For a while, it seemed like nothing was safe from the culture wars between red and blue America. Education, medicine, parenting, and even dog training were not immune to the so-called “war on woke.” But lately, even with the 2024 election season in full swing, signs that these once-red-hot fights might be starting to cool are appearing. A Florida court neutered the state’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, rolling back key provisions that limited what students and teachers can talk about in the classroom. Meanwhile, in California, voters recently ousted a pair of Orange County school board candidates who made anti-LGBTQ policies a tentpole of their tenure.
While these viewpoints quickly gained traction in certain communities, the backlash to them was swift, says Politico Education Reporter Blake Jones. He points to California cities such as Temecula and Orange, where conservative school board candidates campaigned on anti-COVID protocols and gender-related issues.
“They fired their superintendent. They banned critical race theory. And now that majority is actually dissipated there, by the way, because one of the three conservatives resigned and moved his family to Texas. But we still do have this 2-2 gridlock,” Jones explains. “The board chair there who went viral calling Harvey Milk a pedophile during a school board meeting is now facing this recall in June that'll give us another gauge from voters.”
Jones points to the liberal electorate in California that’s creating challenges for conservative groups to get initiatives on the statewide ballot about gender-related issues. He adds, “Another thing that it tells us too is that there aren't a lot of deep-pocketed funders in California who have been willing to pay to get an initiative like this on the ballot, which probably says that they're evaluating its chances of success in California and not seeing a clear pathway there.”