(NEW YORK) – PEN America today criticized Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon for signing HB 147 / HEA 67 into law last week. This sweeping bill not only prohibits DEI programming and restricts coursework at all levels of public education–from K-12 to higher education–but threatens to shutter beneficial government services across the state.
“This law effectively takes a battering ram to public education in Wyoming,” said Amy Reid, Freedom to Learn senior manager at PEN America. “Governor Gordon has claimed HB 147 takes a ‘precise, enforceable and legally sound approach’ to DEI policy in the state’s public institutions, but that’s hard to square with a law that includes both an educational gag order, and a prohibition on any sort of activity or program which recognizes the groups and attributes that make up American society. This incredibly vague and broad law is a tool for censorship and suppression across the state. There will be no winners in this kind of game.”
HB 147 creates a broad and categorical prohibition on any “program, activity or policy that promotes differential or preferential treatment of individuals or classifies individuals on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity or national origin.” This sweeping provision applies not just to all K-12 public schools, colleges, and universities, but to any “government entity” in Wyoming. The law will prohibit religious affinity groups, programming for international students, single-sex dormitories on college campuses, any middle school or high school girls sports team, or even a program supporting veterans who are fathers.
In addition, the bill also prohibits any government entity from “requiring instruction promoting” a now familiar list of so-called “divisive concepts,” which have been adopted into a spate of state laws since 2021, as well as a federal Executive Order this year. The language echoes the provision in Florida’s Stop WOKE Act which was ruled unconstitutional for higher education by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals last year.
Wyoming is now the first state to enact a law in 2025 censoring higher education. The law was one of two dueling anti-DEI bills that arrived recently on the Wyoming Governor’s desk. The Governor explained that he vetoed the other “anti-DEI” bill, SF 103, because it was an “attempt to limit curriculum and course requirements […] with a sledgehammer without regard to what gets smashed.” However, HB 147 also directly censors what can be taught in public schools and college classrooms, as well as prohibits a range of government programs.
“Wyoming may be the last state alphabetically,” Reid continued, “Now they’re one of the first in education censorship. Across the country, more than 20 states have already introduced bills this year and could soon follow suit. This is an ominous trend that portends devastating consequences for today’s students.”
About PEN America
PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide. We champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform the world. Our mission is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible. Learn more at pen.org.
Contact: Malka margolies, mmargolies@pen.org