Schools and Parents Spar Over Books on LGBTQ+ Issues in School Libraries
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Should books about LGBTQ+ issues with sexually explicit details be available in K-12 school libraries?
At issue are recent novels such as "Lawn Boy," "Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts)," "All Boys Aren't Blue" and other books that detail LGBTQ+ youth coming-of-age stories through sometimes sexually explicit passages. In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott directed state officials to review all books in schools to prevent children from viewing "pornography or other inappropriate content." Texas state Rep. Matt Krause (R) identified 850 books about race or sexuality, and ordered Texas school districts to investigate whether the books were in their libraries. The efforts to investigate and potentially ban some literature have prompted concerns about cancel culture and sex education from some schools, parents and students. Some are worried about government censorship and discrimination against marginalized youths — others support the investigations and are concerned that their children may be exposed to explicit content without parental oversight.
Reports from left- and center-rated sources often framed the efforts to ban certain books as politicized, unjust censorship that would hurt the social development of LGBTQ+ students, and described the recently growing popularity of LGBTQ+ books in schools as a movement to diversify the reading content available in public schools. Few focused on parents who are concerned about sexualized content. Conversely, reports from right-rated sources tended to highlight parents who expressed concern about sexualized content being available to young students in school libraries, and how that material could negatively impact their social development and morals.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Left
Banned: Books on race and sexuality are disappearing from Texas schools in record numbersKATY, Texas — From a secluded spot in her high school library, a 17-year-old girl spoke softly into her cellphone, worried that someone might overhear her say the things she’d hidden from her parents for years. They don’t know she’s queer, the student told a reporter, and given their past comments about homosexuality’s being a sin, she’s long feared they would learn her secret if they saw what she reads in the library.
That space, with its endless rows of books about characters from all sorts of backgrounds, has been...
From the Center
Students Slam School Board Over Book Review Order, Say It's Hurting 'Honor Students'Students have slammed a Texas school board's "book review" order that would allow board members to ban books from district schools without public comment. At least one of the students pointed out that the Granbury Independent School District's (GISD) plan would most hurt "honor students" looking to advance their studies with advanced texts.
The students commented against the policy at a Tuesday meeting of the school board in Granbury, Texas, a town of roughly 11,000 people just southwest of Fort Worth.
"I simply want to emphasize who it is that...
From the Right
‘My Duty as a Parent’: Inside the Fight to Remove Sexualized Content From School LibrariesSomething on television caught the attention of Stacy Langton, a mother of six living in northern Virginia, when she was cooking dinner for her family in mid-September 2021.
“Write a sex scene you wouldn’t show your mom; write an X-rated Disney scenario,” read the TV news reporter, showing prompts given to students of a writing class at a public high school in Hudson, Ohio.
“What the heck is going on?” Langton said to herself.
All her children went to Catholic schools before high school, so she didn’t have much experience with public...
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