Knox County Schools Met With Backlash Over LGBTQ+ Titles Available In School Libraries
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The Tennessee Conservative [By Rebecca Scott] –
It’s no secret that conservative Tennesseans and that a few more conservative Representatives and Senators have been working to remove questionable and age-inappropriate materials from school libraries.
Protecting Tennessee’s children from the onslaught of LGBTQ+ materials being slipped into school libraries has been a fight that legislators, parents, and concerned citizens have been addressing across the country.
Now, in Knox County Schools, two books available in school libraries have been discovered and have caused a stir. The two titles that have drawn backlash are Gender Queer : A Memoir and Fun Home : A Family Tragicomic.
Leaders in KCS have decided to establish committees to review titles that may contain questionable material generally relating to sex, drugs, and violence.
These committees would cover elementary, middle, and high schools and would be made up of a range of school employees, as well as parents. Not only would they review sensitive material, they would also make recommendations for materials that school libraries need.
One student from West High School, Johnathan Knight, insisted that students already have access to explicit information through the internet and, therefore, argued against the banning of any books in school libraries.
Meanwhile, Sheri Supr from the Knox County chapter of Moms for Liberty argues that these committees shouldn’t even be necessary. “These books shouldn’t have to go through a review process, the principals should be able to make decisions based on what is obscene and what is not. We just want to make sure that they’re educational, and they are appropriate for the age.”
While proponents of explicit content maintain that these books promote awareness and inclusion, most conservatives argue that introducing students to this content through the school library systems is irresponsible and not in-keeping with educational goals and conservative values.
Knox County plans to establish their new committees this spring.
Rebecca Scott is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Rebecca at Rebecca@tennesseeconservativenews.com
Moms for Liberty has common sense.
The Dems say they don’t beleive in banning books. Would they want books that promote Trump as the greatest president and Biden as the worst?
Tip to Knox County > Focus on getting rid of the Libs on your School Board. That’s the key. I’m in Williamson and in 3 years we’ve gone from 10-2 (10 Libs) to only 4 Libs – so conservatives are now the majority.
At any other time or place these books would be considered pornography, but not in school libraries!?
There needs to be more backlash and a Old Fashion book burning to rid Trash books like those.
A West High School student spoke at the April 4th meeting, “ Most teens aren’t
aware of how you can get hurt doing unsafe sexual practices these books provide helpful
tips on self on self-pleasure which prevents teens from accidental self harm.“ She continued, “ you were doing these exact things as a teenager looking at similar material and masturbating it is part of growing as person.” If you can’t believe she stood up in front of a room full of adults while being live streamed on Youtube and talked about self pleasure and masturbation, believe it. These books are graphic novels showing oral sex between two boys, and boy on girl oral sex. Knox County Schools provides “Instructional Sex Manuals” for students age 14-18. What’s next, Penthouse and the Kama Sutra? Facebook removed a photo from Gender Queer, “Your photo goes against our community standards on nudity and sexual activity.” Walgreens Photo wouldn’t print the picture on poster board because the content “is against company policy.” The Kicker… an email containing photos from Gender Queer and Fun Home to the Superintendent and BOE members was caught by the IT filter and never delivered. The content was too graphic. But hey, the books are okay for a school library.
Review committees sending reports to the District Librarian for a decision followed by a 6 step appeal process to the BOE… while the books stay on the shelves is ridiculous. Everyone with an IQ over 60 knows if Dr. Rysewyk showed this book to 14 year olds at a public park he’d be registering as a sex offender after his arrest and trial. These books are obscene and should be removed immediately. What we need is an administrator with guts.