Reporting for Book Riot, Kelly Jensen looks at an Ohio district where parental rights are only for certain parents.
Vaguely worded legislation is one of the biggest tools book banners have in their arsenal to empty public institutions like schools and libraries of access to inclusive, representative literature. We’ve seen this in Florida, where state officials pointed to state laws in order to demand school districts ban 50+ books from their buildings this summer. We’ve also seen it in Texas, where school districts have shut down their libraries in order to remove books to be in compliance with new state laws.
Now, those eager to implement far-right, anti-LGBTQ+ agendas have found their path to do so in Ohio. When states give an inch, districts operated by those with political agendas find their permission slips and take more than a mile.
Bellbrook-Sugarcreek School District (BSSD) in Ohio implemented a new policy this past April that directly impacts the books students have access to across the district. Policy #5780 is a “Parents’ Bill of Rights” and prohibits so-called “sexuality content” and “gender ideology” from students in kindergarten through grade eight, while requiring explicit parental permission for such content for high school students.1 This “sexuality content” applies to curriculum, as well as access to books in both classroom and school libraries.
BSSD’s board drafted and passed the policy last spring in response to Ohio’s House Bill 8 (H.B. 8), dubbed the “Parents’ Bill of Rights.” But BSSD’s policy goes far beyond what’s required by H.B. 8. BSSD’s policy adds school library and classroom library collections, meaning that parents now need to opt their high school students in to curriculum that might include “sexuality content.” They also need to opt their high school students in to accessing books labeled as “sexual content” or “gender ideology” in the library.
Policy #5780 defines “sexuality content” as “private sexual acts or sexual intercourse in any form.” Board member Audra Dorn described the ambiguous term as “if you could do it on a park bench and not be arrested for it…that’s not ‘inherently private.’” Such a broad definition inherently excludes any and all books that discuss sexual assault, sexual abuse, and rape–topics that young readers deserve access to in order to protect themselves and topics which most impact girls, women, and trans folks. Historically, young people having access to such materials has helped them come forward about being victims of these horrendous acts.
That isn’t the only issue, of course. So, too, is the fact that young people who are queer or who interact with queer people–which is everyone–deserve access to books written for them that center LGBTQ+ voices and experiences. They also deserve access to books about puberty and sex, as books provide a safe, professionally-vetted space to learn. Books selected for school and classroom libraries aren’t made randomly. They go through numerous gates and reviews, from idea to final product on shelves.
But that’s not enough, and for some parents, materials remain unavailable for their children. Read the full article here.