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https://theconversation.com/penguin-random-house-pen-america-authors-and-parents-sue-florida-county-for-removing-books-on-race-and-lgbtq-themes-205945>
"A new lawsuit against a Florida school board marks a “first-of-its-kind
challenge to unlawful censorship”.
On May 17, the world’s largest English-language publisher, Penguin Random
House, free-speech organisation PEN America, five authors (including
bestselling queer YA author David Levithan) and two parents joined forces.
Their lawsuit claims Florida’s Escambia County School Board has “unlawfully”
removed or restricted books about “race, racism and LGBTQ identities”, and
those by non-white and/or LGBTQ authors.
“The School District and the School Board have done so based on their
disagreement with the ideas expressed in those books,” reads the lawsuit.
It argues the book removals (and/or restricted access to books), against the
recommendations of the district review committee charged with evaluating book
challenges, violate the First Amendment, which protects freedom of speech. It
also argues school officials violated the Equal Protection clause of the 14th
amendment.
Nearly 200 books have been targeted in the district in the past year, according
to publicly available information. CNN reports that more than half of those
titles have been placed under restricted access and require parental permission
during the review process, and 16 books have been either removed from all
libraries or made only available for certain grades.
The lawsuit asks for books to be returned to school library shelves, “where
they belong”.
PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel says the book removals are “a deliberate attempt
to suppress diverse voices”."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
