Chicago Students Call BS on Parents' Book Banning Crusade

[babylonsister]

Who's acting like the real adults here? Sounds like the adults need to go back to school for much-needed education and enlightenment. Bravo to these students!

Chicago Students Call BS on Parents’ Book Banning Crusade
STOP EMBARRASSING ME
Nearly 200 people attended a high school board meeting on Monday that erupted into a fight over the book “Gender Queer.”
Brooke Leigh Howard
Reporter
Updated Nov. 16, 2021 6:06PM ET / Published Nov. 16, 2021 4:07PM ET

snip//

Before the meeting even began, one unnamed parent told the Chicago Sun-Times that having Gender Queer available to high school students was “sick” and “teaches kids how to be gay.”

Terry Newsome, a father who had two kids at Downers, said that his issue with the book is that it’s “liberal code for teaching children how to perform oral sex, anal sex, wear strap-on dildos. These graphic images are totally unacceptable regardless of their gender or sexuality.”

snip//

But Lauren Pierret, a senior at Downers Grove North, argued that plenty of books in schools’ libraries include sexual content, including The Handmaid’s Tale, but they do not receive the same backlash.

“Let’s not present getting rid of Gender Queer as censoring our children from sex,” Pierret told the meeting, according to the Sun-Times. “It’s homophobia.”

“Inclusion matters to young people,” said Josiah Poynter, another senior at Downers. “This is why we must have this book in our school’s library... It brings comfort to people who feel unsolved and cast out.”

more...

https://www.thedailybeast.com/downers-grove-district-99-high-school-students-call-bs-on-parents-war-on-gender-queer-book?ref=home

[Throck]

1. Shocked to hear this from Chicago.

I'd expect to hear about book banning in Texas.

[GoCubsGo]

4. It's actually one of the suburbs.

Some of them are fairly heavily Republican, so not that surprising.

[Throck]

8. Rich white people?

[GoCubsGo]

9. Yes, on the "white" part, no on the "rich" part.

Downers Grove is middle class. The suburbs tend to be more Republican because they're filled with "white flight" types and their children and grandchildren. Not all of 'em are rich.

[Throck]

11. Not all of 'em are rich?

Just arrogant?

[GoCubsGo]

12. Just bigots.

Don't need to be rich to be racist or homophobic/transphobic, the latter of which these book banners are.

[maxrandb]

2. If Retrumplicans have .learned anything it is this

Those that scream the loudest win.

They pulled it with the T-Bagging asshats.

They pulled it with Benghazi.

They pulled it with CRT in Virginia.

Now, they are pulling it with screaming banshees at School Board meetings.

If we care about this country, we'd better get off our asses, find our local school board meeting schedules, show up, and be as prepared as these Koch funded, hate-radio motivated dipshits to get in their faces and push back on this shit.

These asspickles rely on the silence of the sane.

[tulipsandroses]

5. Been thinking the same thing

We need to counteract their takeover. I’m looking into this in my area. Joy Reid said they are even taking over school boards in Democratic strongholds. That’s because they run unopposed. It’s not something on our radars, but we need all hands on deck.
All of us have to realize that this is not politics as usual.

[The Mouth]

13. As important as we think Presidential politics are

your school board, city and county offices have more effect on most people's actual lives.

I mean I loath TFG; but walking a precinct or doing phone banking for a local candidate does more good than anything and everything posted on any political website when it comes down to actually changing the world.

That's what the Tea Party and their successors did right: first you get the city council (where the voting places are), then you get the state house (where the districts are) *then* you 'own the libs' because we were too busy posting memes about Trump going to jail.

[The Magistrate]

3. Downers Grove Ain't Chicago, Ma'am

The kids there seem fine, however....

[Hassin Bin Sober]

15. Yeah, at first I was like good fucking luck.

Then I saw Downers Grove.

Still good luck.

[mopinko]

6. the dinosaurs are revolting.

this is dupage co, where the county board has gone from 1 in 18 dems to something like 6-7. not sure how they did last year, but do know there was a pickup.

[Harker]

7. They certainly are. n/t

[greenjar_01]

10. While it's a well established pasttime of Chicagoland suburbanites to claim they're from Chicago

I want to assure everyone that Downers Grove is not in fucking Chicago and these people should STAAAAHP.

[ProfessorGAC]

14. Sorry, No

I've been to 38 countries outside the US. Some, I've been to once, others 30 or 40 times.
When asked where I'm from, I don't say Arlington Heights, or Aurora, or Cal City, or Downers, or Joliet, or Northbrook....
People in Italy, England, China, India, Brazil, Australia, and the like would have zero idea where Berwyn is.
But, they know where Chicago is.
We call it Chicagoland for a reason.