Book Censorship News, December 29, 2023

It’s a vacation week, so let’s maintain this quick and candy—and finish one other 12 months of protection on a promising notice.

Earlier this month, I rounded up the present lawsuits pertaining to e-book bans throughout the nation. Among them are two lawsuits in Iowa aimed on the state’s controversial SF 496, the invoice that contributed to the usage of instruments like AI to find out whether or not or not faculty library books wanted to be banned.

Lawyers representing Penguin Random House in one of many fits stated that the attorneys representing Iowa reported that the regulation was being misused to ban LGBTQ+ content material. Even although the state ban on LGBTQ+ instruction (no matter which means) would nonetheless apply to grades six and decrease, this doesn’t imply books with LGBTQ+ content material can’t be made accessible in class libraries. Only books that depict “sex acts” as outlined by state statute have been topic to removing from faculty libraries.

In different phrases, these should not books with or about LGBTQ+ characters.

As Andrew Albanese wrote in a chunk at Publisher’s Weekly, the challenges of navigating this new regulation—which handed with the assistance of state members of Moms For Liberty who’ve loved a comfortable relationship with Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds—confirmed within the preliminary lawsuit listening to:

In an illuminating change, [Judge] Locher requested [Iowa attorney] Johnston to elaborate: Could a fourth grade instructor share a e-book with homosexual characters with college students? No, Johnston replied. Could a scholar select to put in writing a e-book report a couple of e-book with homosexual characters? Yes, Johnston stated. “A teacher could say, ‘I want all the students to write a student essay.’ If that student then themselves goes to the library and selects a book about gay characters, that’s perfectly fine.”

This lawsuit, nor the opposite lively lawsuit within the state, has not been settled as of writing. But let’s hope that this small victory is the beginning of extra to come back.

Book Censorship News: December 29, 2023

• Murfreesboro, Tennessee, simply repealed the “decency” ordinance they rammed by means of six months in the past. The ordinance had a big impact on the county library system, which can be implementing quite a few modifications this 12 months, together with restrictions on LGBTQ+ books and entry for these beneath 18—however will the repeal of the ordinance change the brand new insurance policies?
• Rolla Public Library (MO) is coping with a problem over a puberty e-book, The Every Body Book, by one of many metropolis council members.
• A Massachusetts police officer is apologizing for raiding a classroom to search for Gender Queer…is an actual factor from our present timeline in America.
• Lexington-Richland School District 5 (SC) eliminated your entire A Court of Mist and Fury collection from the district. This board determination was made regardless of the very fact the evaluation committee stated it ought to stay on cabinets.
• Denying an enchantment, it’s official: Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts) will stay on cabinets within the Las Cruces faculty district (NM).
• (Paywalled) 8 books that have been challenged in Northview Public Schools (MI) will stay on cabinets. The books are Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Mass, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel, Push by Sapphire, All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M Johnson, Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison, Tricks by Ellen Hopkins, Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews, and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.
• “In Alabama, organizations like Clean Up Alabama and Moms for Liberty have become prominent voices in this debate. The recent initiative by the Alabama Public Library Service to create a submission form for public book concerns, while not publicly disclosed, is another step in this contentious direction. This, coupled with some lawmakers’ intentions to involve the State Legislature in book banning and defunding non-compliant libraries, signals a worrying escalation.” More clear-eyed, sincere reporting like this in regards to the state of censorship. Remember that e-book banning is the device, not a byproduct, of fascism.
• Big Walnut Local Schools (OH) banned Pride flags and any shows of supplies indirectly associated to the present unit of examine in school rooms. Talk about small authorities.
• Gadsden Public Library (AL) would possibly lose some funding as a result of a e-book banner is mad about LGBTQ+ books.
• “The leader of a far-right organization in St. Tammany has withdrawn the more than 150 book challenges her organization has submitted to the parish’s library review board. The complaints, primarily submitted by Connie Phillips and other conservative activists from her organization, the St. Tammany Parish Library Accountability Project, target books deemed inappropriate for children. Most of the titles touch on LGBTQ+ themes. “We are confident that our new Parish Council, Governor, and state lawmakers will make the necessary changes to protect children from sexually explicit material in the children’s section,” Phillips wrote in an electronic mail to St. Tammany Parish Library Director Kelly LaRocca.” And onward it goes in St. Tammany Parish Public Library.
• Washoe County Library System (NV) is as soon as once more coping with the fallout of not banning LGBTQ+ books and never canceling Drag Storytime, due to the bigots who proceed to badger the system.
• The present realities of public libraries and quorum courts in Arkansas.