Governor Phil Murphy joins nine Governors to oppose the censorship of school textbooks and a letter sent to textbook Publishers Murphy along with Governors from Across the Nation are pushing back on textbook Publishers agreeing to censor educational materials at the order of state governments like Florida this comes in the wake of debates over lgbtq plus educational materials in schools as battles heat up across the state as we begin pride month Advocates are reflecting on the general atmosphere amongst the trans community in the state of New Jersey after ongoing book ban attempts hyper fixation on lgbtq plus youth in schools and troubling anti-trans bills Catching Fire Nationwide project manager and trainer at Garden State equality Damien Allen Lopez is a proud transgender man with hopes to shift the conversation Lopez joins me to discuss how trans representation in children's books and other medians can Inspire children's confidence Damien as someone who is a published author who advocates for lgbtq plus curriculum let's talk about why Banning books with lgbtq plus content like your your children's book I am a prince is problematic absolutely so it's interesting because I actually just came back from a training this morning and when we talked about inclusive curriculum to the youth that were there between I want to say the grade 7th and ninth grade and I expressed to them it is you're right it's the law in New Jersey to learn about the communities that are your own that to see yourself reflected in the things that you learn and it's super imperative one to decrease bullying we've done the work we've done our inclusive curriculum pilot we've found out and we've saw that it works that it decreases bullying increases compassion toward one another and when you have comprehensive and adequate lesson plans and resources for those youth it really does establish great connections Damian you spoke about uplifting each other right but we know that that's not happening everywhere right and so over the past few weeks we've seen mixed reactions from different school districts considering policies requiring schools to notify parents about their child's gender and and or sexual orientation so when you when you think about that and you hear that I mean what would you like to see for people who are listening who are on the fence or who may not support this why is it so important they really take the time to educate themselves and listen to someone like yourself so coming out is a very individualized process it's very personal and maybe maybe even sacred for a lot of people um because it takes a lot of misks emotions and um resonating and just self-reflection on really finding what really resonates with you and we really want to promote you know the privacy of students coming out is a very very scary process there may be some students that don't have supportive parents at home and to take away that power from them uh really goes against you know that moment of really saying this is who I am and this I want you to love and support me um and while schools are going against some specific policies that may be outing them that isn't there that isn't their right to do we want to make sure that we're promoting the students rights and on privacy and kind of celebrating their autonomy as well and it's interesting because you know we think about students rights we take we can't talk about lgbtq plus Education Without also talking about access to transgender and gender affirming health care so in 2023 I want to ask you from one being the worst and 10 being the best how would you rate access to lgbtq plus health care and why oh my goodness I would say a hundred honestly we're going off the scale right now um gender for me care saves lives and when we look at the data when we look at the research that's coming out every day we're seeing that it not only increases overall mental well-being it increases quality of life and it saves it saves people's lives and what's really important is not just accessibility to it but making sure that they have it consistently I would say personally like if I didn't have my gender for me care honestly I did shed a tear the other day I was like I don't want to de-transition I don't want my rights taken away I can't even imagine me not being Damien you know it's fulfilling it's a lot of self-love and I think we have to remember we have to give Grace to one another that's right that's right Damon you are living proof um that everyone should be heard and feel valid so thank you thank you for joining me no absolutely thank you for having me I really appreciate it Happy pride month [Music] [Music]