Books That Belong in Public Libraries Not School Libraries
"The book removals and also the comments create this pervasively hostile environment.""Both send a message to the entire community that LGBTQ identities are inherently obscene, worthy of stigmatization -- and the book removals uniquely deprive LGBTQ students of the opportunity to read books that reflect their own experiences."Chloe Kempf, lawyer, American Civil Liberties Union of Texas"This isn't the sort of civil rights issue that requires federal intervention.""It's a question about books in schools, not about individual rights being violated."Will Flanders, research director, Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty"I think it's gonna hold.""I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up at the Supreme Court eventually."John Doherty, School Liability Expert Group
A
Texas school district has allegedly removed books featuring LGBTQ
characters from school libraries, leading the U.S. government to open an
investigation. The situation marks the first test of a new legal
argument that holds the failure to represent students in school books
can constitute discrimination.
The
Granbury Independent School District is now being investigated by the
Education Department's Office for Civil Rights, the initiative based on a
complaint of discrimination that the American Civil Liberties Union of
Texas lodged last summer.
Should
the government find in favour of the ACLU, what follows could have
further implications for schools nationwide. Experts foresee that
forcing libraries to stock books featuring LGBTQ individuals and
requiring administrators to develop procedures ensuring student access
to books some Americans feel to be unacceptable will not go down well
with conservative parents. Particularly within a rising tide of book
challenges and bans, expressing parental dissatisfaction with what is
becoming the status quo, swiftly upturning social tradition.
Books
focusing on themes of sexual and racial identity with all that implies
in all their complexities are those books most often targeted. According
to the Texas ACLU complaint, Granbury school officials directed removal
of all LGBTQ books from school libraries, citing statements by
superintendent Jeremy Glenn a year ago. The Texas Tribune published Mr. Glenn as having informed his staff would be "pulling out ... the transgender, LGBTQ, and the sex -- sexuality -- in books".
An
estimated 130 books representing three-quarters that featured LGBTQ
characters or themes were those removed from library shelves. Attorneys
for the Texas ACLU argue that those actions violate Title IX -- the
federal law that prohibits discrimination in public schools on the basis
of sex. The law was recently interpreted by the Biden administration as
forbidding discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender
identity; key to the ACLU's argument.
Governmental
intervention in the Granbury case, in the opinion of the Wisconsin
Institute for Law and Liberty's Will Flanders, could set a worrying
precedent of federal overreach. Such decisions on availability and
appropiriateness in school libraries of texts should remain with local
school boards reflecting the status quo of the public school system from
its inception.
ProPublica |
John
Doherty of the School Liability Expert Group that provides expert
witness testimony and legal consultations to schools predicted it would
take one to two years for the federal probe to proceed and might
eventually generate penalties for the school district ranging from a
reduction in federal funding to government-mandated training on
inclusivity -- or nothing at all.
The
Texas ACLU contends the removal of books featuring specific values may
represent discrimination at a time when school book bans and challenges
are surging to historic levels nationally and school officials
clandestinely remove texts from shelves to avoid such controversy. The
vast majority of books drawing complaints according to analyses from PEN
America and the American Library Association, are written by or about
people of colour and LGBTQ individuals.
John
Chrastka who heads the national political action committee EveryLibrary
is exultant over the scope and implications of the ACLU's argument that
banning books may violate federal anti-discrimination laws. He expects,
if the efforts of the ACLU prove successful. that an explosion will
result in the availability of texts devoted to LGBTQ voices and subjects
in school libraries.
However,
as Rick Hess, director of education policy studies at the American
Enterprise Institutes points out, most cases of school book challenges
and removals cannot clearly be traced to animus against a particular
protected class of people like LGBTQ individuals. Parents in school
systems nationwide are filing complaints against books for their sexual
or otherwise age-inappropriate content.
"If
school districts everywhere really are systematically removing every
book which contains a gay or trans character, that would be problematic,
but I find that unlikely."
"But to ask whether something is appropriate for a six- or ten-year-old?"
"That strikes me as eminently reasonable."
Rick Hess, director of education policy studies, American Enterprise Institute think tank
Labels: Banning Books, Controversy, Discrimination, Texas ACLU
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