The Fairfax County School Board (FCPS) in Virginia has ruled that "Gender Queer: A Memoir" by Maia Kobabe and "Lawn Boy" by Jonathan Evison, two books that contain extremely graphic sex scenes and pictures, are appropriate and serve the needs of LGBT youth in the school to support their need for diverse reading material that they can relate to.
These two books have been banned from school libraries in Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Missouri, Tennessee, and Minnesota.
According to The Epoch Times, both "Gender Queer: A Memoir" and "Lawn Boy" was allowed back to the Virginia school library by the FCPS because a review committee made up of parents, students, and school officials who were tasked to assess the books unanimously decided that the books should have a place in the school library.
On Sept. 23, concerned parent Stacy Langton spoke out during a school board meeting, during which she questioned why such books were present in the Virginia school library. She even began reading excerpts from the books during the school board meeting when she was stopped by the board members, saying that the content was inappropriate for a public reading because "there were children in the audience."
Ironically, the book is now back at the Virginia school library, which is being used by students who are minors. On Dec. 2, the FCPS received both praise and backlash for allowing the books back in the Virginia school library. Parent Mariane Burke supported the FCPS's decision, arguing that the books will help address the high suicide rates among LGBT youth, which she believes is "a result of unique and hostile stressors sexual minorities face related to their sexual minority identity."
But some parents continue to rally against the books. Parent Lindai Kendall insist that the books are illegal and that the FCPS were "tone deaf" in their decision to allow the books featuring pedophilia, graphic sex scenes, and other problematic material back into the Virginia school liobrary. Kendall argued, "Pornography in our schools is illicit and, by allowing it, everyone in this school board is complicit, because they promote pornography."
According to Metro Weekly, FCPS released a statement explaining their decision to restore the two books in the Virginia school library, saying that the committee's decision reaffirms the district's "ongoing commitment to provide diverse reading materials that reflect our student population, allowing every child an opportunity to see themselves reflected in literary characters."
Langton, on the other hand, clarified that she was not against LGBT content, but instead was against pornography. She argued, "I don't care about the gender of the participants in the book, I don't care about the sexual orientation of the characters. It's just pornography, full stop."
The Pride Liberation Project, a coalition of LGBT students fighting for LGBT-inclusive policies and regulations within schools, said through its founder Aaryan Rawal that the group needs to "continue to make sure that student voices are heard over those who are trying to politicize queer lives" and praised the FCPS for "[rejecting] these attacks against LGBTQIA+ students."
EDITOR'S NOTE:
It's worth noting that there have been continued efforts to push LGBT ideology into the minds of young children, especially in schools, and these efforts come from a combination of pro-LGBT groups such as the above-mentioned Pride Liberation Project as well as prominent organizations such as the Illinois-based Young Adult Library Services Association and the New York-based School Library Journal.
These efforts, along with efforts to teach kids racism via critical race theory, have pushed parents to take their kids out of public schools and simply homeschool them so they know what their children are being taught.
Alex Newman, a journalist, seeing how this unfolds, urges parents to carefully analyze what schools teach their children, and even homeschool their kids and disciple them personally, teaching them Biblical truths instead of anti-God ideologies.
"It will not take long for Bible-believing pastors to recognize that God never intended His people to hand their children over to anti-Christian government schools for education. Rather, parents are told to disciple and educate their children," Newman said.
