Headline RoundupFebruary 1st, 2022

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.  

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