Porn on the shelves

Last year, parental complaints about school closures, mask regulations, and critical race theory in the classroom grabbed headlines and figured in raucous school board meetings glimpsed on the evening news. But another complaint received less attention: the presence of books in the school library that parents considered pornographic.

A YouTube search for “parents protest pornography” turns up video from Loudon County, Va., to Waukesha, Wis.; from Keller, Texas, to Salt Lake County, Utah. Parents hold up offending books and sometimes read offensive paragraphs. Some videos warn about “explicit” content. In others, parents who attempt to read lurid passages are shouted down by members of the school board. The explicit content, in almost every case, relates to homosexual, transgender, or genderqueer relationships (“genderqueer” being a catch-all term for nonconforming sexual identities).

What, exactly, is “explicit content”? Three titles show up again and again at contentious board meetings:

All Boys Aren’t Blue is the “Memoir/Manifesto” of George M. Johnson, a black gay activist. Johnson describes positive experiences as well as traumatic ones in his childhood, but includes detailed descriptions of early sexual encounters, beginning when he was seduced at age 13 by his 18-year-old cousin.

Gender Queer, by Maia Kobabe, is a graphic memoir about the author’s journey to nonbinary, asexual status. “Graphic” describes the book’s genre, not primarily its content, though the pages that depict Kobabe’s sexual experiments, including fellatio, fit that description.

Lawn Boy, by Jonathan Evison, is a novel about an aimless young Latino who finds fulfillment as a gay topiary artist and successful businessman. The narrative is spattered with F-bombs and includes a description of oral sex between fourth grade boys.

Gender Queer and Lawn Boy were published for the adult market but selected by the American Library Association for its annual “Alex” list. These are 10 adult titles recognized for their “special appeal to young adults ages 12 through 18.” Without that distinction, they might never have found their way to school libraries.

Stacy Langton, a Fairfax County, Va., mother of six, was working at home when a television news report sparked her curiosity. It was about protests in Hudson, Ohio, over a writing manual used in the local high school that included suggestive prompts (e.g., “Write a sex scene you wouldn’t show your parents”). A search for other problematic books led to Langton’s discovery that both Lawn Boy and Gender Queer were available at her son’s high school. He checked them out, and she read them cover to cover. “I was wrecked for a day,” she told The Epoch Times.

Langton signed up for two minutes of citizen participation at the next school board meeting. While reading a lurid passage from Lawn Boy, she was interrupted by the chairwoman: “There are children present, Ma’am!”

The video went viral, making Langton an activist and a target, along with other parents nationwide. The National Coalition Against Censorship published a statement in December condemning the “organized political attack” that “threatens the education of America’s children.” The ALA released a similar statement, framing the issue as sheer bigotry: “A few organizations have advanced the proposition that the voices of the marginalized have no place on library shelves.”

Stacy Langton waves away such accusations. “It’s about pornography, not gender or sexual preferences,” she said in a telephone interview. What about those who point out that children see far worse on their phones? “That’s a personal issue.” School policy is supposed to reflect community standards. On school laptops given to students, she explained, pornographic content is carefully blocked, so allowing pornographic material in the library “makes no sense.”

Langton’s solution is for publishers to provide parental advisory labels for books with explicit content, as the music industry agreed to over 30 years ago. Getting inappropriate books out of the schools altogether is an involved process and varies from one district to another. School officials in Loudon County, Va., voted unanimously to remove Gender Queer, but next-door Fairfax County has taken no action.

Katy, Texas, Independent School District has tried to be more responsive to parents. In an email interview, Maria Dipetta, media communications manager for the district, explained how teachers and librarians have traditionally relied on the recommendations of the ALA and review journals. But recent concerns about content have led the district to enhance their community review process. “Parents with concerns regarding potentially ‘pervasively vulgar’ content … are encouraged to complete a form via the Partner with Parents Online Book Review app. Each submission is evaluated by Katy ISD instructional personnel,” who respond within 30 days.

Partners with Parents launched in December, and the response has been “very positive. Parents have been pleased to have a process to share their concerns.” A few titles have even been removed from district libraries.

Though the line between free access and prudent protection isn’t always clear, few would dispute that parents should have a say in what their children read. Mutual respect will go further than noisy protest, but in some school districts, they may have to fight for it.