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https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://medium.com/prismnpen/school-district-bans-all-books-with-gay-characters-in-iceberg-tip-move-8ce064b3bd98>
"A schools superintendent in Charlotte County, Florida recently ordered
librarians to purge all school libraries and all classrooms of all books
containing transgender and/or gay characters — even if the books contain no
sexual content — citing Florida’s Don’t Say Gay law. (Officially, the Florida
Parental Rights in Education Act.)
He backed down slightly after public uproar, but his edict is merely one spark
in a book-banning bonfire consuming school libraries and public libraries
across the U.S.
This week is the American Library Association’s 41st annual Banned Books Week,
which has taken on new and frightening meaning in a nation once known for
revering education and learning. This year’s theme is “Let Freedom Read!”
Why does this freedom matter?
It’s personal for me, as I remembered this morning while reading a
gut-wrenching essay by Sam Thomas, a gay man in the U.K. whose classmates
bullied him so terribly in school that he used to retreat to the boys toilets
to overeat and then purge. While reading, I couldn’t help but remember the time
I ran into a church restroom to vomit. I had just connected the dots of the
preacher’s sermon and realized I was one of the “perverted sinners” he was
condemning.
Reading on, I learned that Sam’s mom was powerless to protect him from
homophobic bullying, and so were his teachers. A law called Section 28, similar
to Don’t Say Gay laws, silenced his teachers. They were unable to address the
anti-gay hatred behind Sam’s bullying or even acknowledge it to other students,
not even to the bullies themselves.
Sam’s teachers were forbidden by law from telling him (or anyone) that he was
perfectly okay just the way he was.
Could they give him a supportive book about LGBTQ people? Forget it. Section 28
made clear that positive books about queer people did not belong in schools.
Most teachers were afraid to even try.
Sound familiar, my fellow Americans?
By the way, what do we call ourselves now? If we’re not the Land of the Free
anymore, can we search for some other motto? Land of the Book Burners,
perhaps?"
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
