HB0147 Prohibition of institutional discrimination passed unanimously out of the House Education Committee. Then, on Thursday and Friday, it passed its first and second votes on the House floor.
The bill prohibits the government from engaging in any “diversity, equity or inclusion” activity (DEI). Its prohibitions extend not only to state agencies but also to educational institutions from the University of Wyoming to state-run preschools. Counties, cities, towns and all other political subdivisions are prohibited from the same DEI activities.
But what exactly does that mean? “Diversity, equity, and inclusion” are tossed like a word salad. But rarely are they defined clearly and simply. As a result, honest discussion is hard to come by.
So, let’s make DEI understandable.
First, don’t fall for the canard that it’s not a “Wyoming problem.” It certainly is. Books like Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the States,” have been assigned reading for tens of thousands of Wyoming’s high school students just as it has been promoted in colleges for decades. And that’s just one example.
DEI is severely critical of America’s past. But that’s not what makes it toxic. Nobody disputes that American citizens and elected officials have committed their share of sins against our founding morals.
What makes DEI so toxic is that it lays the blame for America’s sins not on individuals who acted immorally. Rather, it lays the blame on impersonal power structures, collective groups, and demonized individuals who are long dead.
By this sleight of hand, DEI seizes the high moral ground while simultaneously denying the existence of universal moral truths. It substitutes vague notions of collective guilt for concrete personal accountability. It keeps us stuck in the past and makes present repentance and forgiveness impossible.
HB 147 recognizes this central failing of DEI and calls it “institutional discrimination.” It goes on to define this term as judging people according to institutionally imposed groupings rather than judging them on the merits or demerits of personal actions.
The bill probits programs, activities or policies that discriminate based on a person's unchangeable qualities. Those who judge a person’s moral character based on “race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity or national origin,” are wrong. And no person or government official should act as though a person is “inherently racist, sexist or oppressive” due to arbitrary groupings.
HB 147 does not allow any government entity to consider a person “responsible for actions committed in the past” or to “assign any fault, blame or bias” due to a person’s inclusion in some group.
Men are not misogynists because they are men. Women are not men-haters because they are women. In short, HB 147 reasserts the fundamental human decency that we are personal moral agents who are responsible for our own actions and not for the actions of others.
I believe that when Wyomingites understand DEI for what it is, everyone will get behind HB 147. The bill does not downplay injustices in America’s past. Nor does it stifle discussion of them. Rather, it opens to door to hope, and to a healthy way forward.
When sins are considered personal, repentance and forgiveness provide a way forward. Jesus taught this in a very simple way, “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” (Matthew 7:3). Self-examination helps me to stop blaming others long enough to cast a critical eye on my own actions, thoughts and attitudes.
Your own personal experience confirms that no improvement is possible as long as you are blaming everyone else for your problems. But once you stop fixating on the sins of others, you are finally free to admit fault, repent, and turn over a new leaf. Personal accountability is key.
On the contrary, when you blame impersonal power structures, or dead people for past injustices, forward progress is rendered impossible. Dead people and structures can’t repent.
Such false blame is a vicious cycle that only makes matters worse. You have no incentive to love dead people whom you have never met, or to forgive impersonal groups, Rather their impersonality allows you to indulge in hatred and wallow in rage. Like a wildfire, that raging hatred consumes everything in its path.
America’s founders understood that personal responsibility makes for kind personal relationships. They knew that two wrongs can never make a right. And they built a nation on those basic principles.
DEI denies America’s founding principles and has not made us a more peaceful nation. HB 147 gives us a way forward. Passing it and signing it into law is not only the right thing to do, it will make Wyoming a better place and a shining example to the rest of America.
Jonathan Lange is a Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod pastor in Evanston and Kemmerer and serves the Wyoming Pastors Network. Follow his blog at https://jonathanlange.substack.com/. Email: JLange64@protonmail.com.
