Op-Ed: The Impact of Censorship on Marginalized Communities
Image Credit: Perfecto Capucine
On June 27, the Supreme Court overturned a lower court decision out of Montgomery County, Maryland. The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, [MC1] ruled that parents must be given the option to opt their children out of classroom reading that features gay or transgender characters for faith-based reasons. The case, Mahmoud v. Taylor, is now being sent back down to the lower courts for further deliberation.
So where does the line between freedom from religion and freedom of religion lie? It’s a tricky question. Language and the idea of obscenity are important parts to examine in this case to properly evaluate the ruling.
In the 135-page ruling, the court states, “The individual parents come from diverse religious backgrounds and hold sincere views on sexuality and gender which they wish to pass on to their children,” (CITE).
Within this case, the issue is not inherently rooted in religion or wanting to pass ideology down to one’s children. This kind of decision calls into question the very existence of gay and trans people, relegating the LGBTQ+ community to the position of an “ideology” that can simply be decided against or accepted. The continued placement of members of the LGBTQ+ community as a threat, as the other, can contribute to still increasing levels of violence, particularly against transgender women of color.
The Human Rights Campaign, who track violence against trans gender people, reported that from 2023-2024, 36 trans people were killed. They say in their statement, “Through our ongoing tracking efforts, we’ve seen that of the 36 people we lost in the last year, an overwhelming amount were young and people of color, with Black trans women disproportionately impacted.”
Norms surrounding gender and sexuality that have penetrated much of the popular consciousness in America are tools of colonialism and white supremacy [MC2].
These gendered biases are especially impactful for Black and Brown people; falling outside of the scope of whiteness also tends to blur perceptions of sex and gender. This is why Black men and women are often seen as more “masculine”, “aggressive” or “tougher” than their white counterparts, leading to discrepancies in healthcare, over policing, etc.
Censoring literature for simply featuring LGBTQ+ persons furthers this kind of thinking that allows for the persistence of oppression. If heteronormative and cisnormative rhetoric continues to be spread, and expressions of gender and sexuality are policed through a colonial lens, violence will persist legislatively, physically and otherwise; Black and brown people, and people in the LGBTQ+ community will bear the brunt of the impact.
