LGBTQ+ Books Pulled From Washington State Middle School (didn't think it would be noticed)

[Nevilledog]

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Steve Silberman
@stevesilberman
To avoid bad publicity, Cedar Heights Middle School principal Erika Hanson is quietly pulling LGBTQ books from library shelves while encouraging other principals to do the same. I think Erika Hanson should get TONS of publicity for endangering LGBTQ youth.

bookriot.com
LGBTQ+ Books Quietly Pulled From Washington State Middle School
The school's principal demanded "sexually explicit material" be removed and revoked purchasing power from the librarian and staff.
9:41 AM · Jan 28, 2022

https://bookriot.com/lgbtq-books-quietly-pulled-from-washington-state-middle-school/

In what reads as a story we’re seeing frequently across the country, a school principal in Kent, Washington, has removed a series of books from Cedar Heights Middle School’s library in anticipation of potential publicity for those materials being made available to students. This “silent” or “quiet” or “soft” censorship has played out from Pennsylvania to Florida, Wisconsin to Washington, and because it’s so rarely reported, less attention has been shined on these stories than those where protestors show up to school board meetings.

Gavin Downing, librarian at Cedar Heights, chose to expand the library’s LGBTQ+ resources over the course of the school year, in alignments with the district’s policy on supplemental material. Policy 2020P notes that supplemental materials are selected based on a number of factors, including that they “provide non-stereotypical presentation of diverse racial, ethnic, gender and ability groups.” Items purchased for the library must align with this policy, as well as withstand the standards of decency in their depictions of sex and obscenities, guided by professional reviews.

All materials purchased for the library are guided by the same procedures for formal challenge as those for curriculum, as outlined in the above-linked Policy 2020P. Library materials, while they do sometimes supplement the curriculum, are not supplemental material. They’re choice options.

Downing, upon researching appropriate titles to add to the collection serving 7th and 8th graders was LC Rosen’s Jack of Hearts (And Other Parts). The book garnered favorable reviews, and Downing vetted it carefully.

*snip*

[keithbvadu2]

1. The Bible has "sexually explicit material".