Barack Defends Sexually Explicit Children’s LGBTQ Books From State Challenges
Former President Barack Obama wrote a letter defending LGBTQ+ books in children’s schools and public libraries as Republican-led states move to restrict them amid growing concern from parents.
“Today, some of the books that shaped my life—and the lives of so many others—are being challenged by people who disagree with certain ideas or perspectives,” Obama tweeted along with the letter. “And librarians are on the front lines, fighting every day to make the widest possible range of viewpoints, opinions, and ideas available to everyone.”
Obama wrote:
It’s no coincidence that these “banned books” are often written by or feature people of color, indigenous people, and members of the LGBTQ+ community — though there have also been unfortunate instances in which books by conservative authors or books containing “triggering” words or scenes have been targets for removal. Either way, the impulse seems to be to silence, rather than engage, rebut, learn from or seek to understand views that don’t fit our own.
Obama’s letter comes as GOP-led states have prohibited books promoting gender ideology sexual orientation and restricted teachers from instructing grade-school children on those topics.
In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who signed the Parental Rights in Education Law, said in March, “Exposing the ‘book ban’ hoax is important, because it reveals that some are attempting to use our schools for indoctrination. In Florida, pornographic and inappropriate materials that have been snuck into our classrooms and libraries to sexualize our students violate our state education standards.”
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) in May signed a similar law modeled after Florida’s.
As the Des Moines Register reported:
The law will ban school books with descriptions or depictions of sex acts; prohibit instruction on gender identity or sexual orientation before seventh grade; require schools to notify parents if a student requests to use new pronouns; and enshrine the “constitutionally protected right” for parents to make decisions for their children.
Obama called the restrictions on these books “profoundly misguided, and contrary to what has made this country great.”
No, they are commonsense protections — not “bans” — of children from the sexually graphic material and political indoctrination that Democrats are pushing despite parental objections.