Two Students Sue School District for Banning LGBTQ+ Books

[left-of-center2012]

The American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri filed a lawsuit on Tuesday for parents of two Wentzville school district students to prevent the removal of books about LGBTQ+ people, people of color, and other marginalized groups. It comes after the school district removed eight books from the students’ school’s library. Those included The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison; Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic Paperback by Alison Bechdel; All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson; Heavy: An American Memoir by Kiese Laymon; Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison; Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero; Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari; and Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell.

These books were banned “because of officials’ dislike of the ideas contained in the Banned Books and with the intent and purpose to prescribe what is generally or traditionally accepted as right or true in matters of opinion,” according to the ACLU of Missouri’s lawsuit. The group says in the lawsuit that the first amendment rights of the students were violated by suppressing the “ideas and viewpoints expressed” in the books.

In November, St. Louis Public Radio found that two-thirds of attempts to remove books had been from authors of color or authors who are LGBTQ+.“School boards cannot ban books because the books and their characters illustrate viewpoints different of those of school board; especially when they target books presenting the viewpoints of racial and sexual minorities, as they have done in Wentzville,” Anthony Rothert, director of integrated advocacy of ACLU of Missouri said in a news release.

“The first amendment protects the right to share ideas, including the right of people to receive information and knowledge,” Rothert added. “We must protect this right, including educators’ and students’ rights to talk and learn about race and gender in schools.”

by Alex Cooper - February 18 2022 5:24 pm est
https://www.advocate.com/news/2022/2/18/two-students-sue-school-district-banning-lgbtq-books

[SharonClark]

1. Glad our side is filing a lawsuit.

I’m tired of the anti-everything-good-and-reasonable having there own way.

[summer_in_TX]

2. Hope that argument prevails!

The American people should have an unfettered right to information that is in the public domain. A right to read.

[pidge]

4. They are being removed from a school library...they can still read them.

[summer_in_TX]

5. Access is part of the issue.

Do they have transportation to another location that has the books available for free?

Having the books at hand to stumble across is part of the wonders of a school library (or any library for that matter).

[pnwmom]

7. They can't read them if they can't afford to buy them. nt

[Slammer]

8. temporary victory?

What will likely end up happening if the lawsuit wins is that they'll put the books back in the libraries...

And then not replace those books when they're eventually removed because of age and wear to that copy of the book.

You can probably force them to put the books which they already own back on the shelves.

You probably can't force them to spend money on books which they are unwilling to purchase.

But hopefully, the community views will have changed by that point and the decision-makers will have been replaced by that point in time.

[crickets]

3. Excellent! K&R

[NoMoreRepugs]

6. They form a book club I'll help them buy all the banned books.

My grandfather fought w Black Jack Pershing, my FIL hit Omaha Beach in the first couple of waves, all my uncles and Dad served in WW2 - no f’en way can I stand for this shit - NO WAY.