‘Everybody’s in a tizzy about some dirty books.’ KY ‘book banning’ bill advances
A Senate bill requiring Kentucky’s boards of education to adopt a complaint resolution policy for parents who allege that materials taught in school are harmful to minors is moving forward, with a Fayette County Public School employee expressing support.
Senate Bill 5, sponsored by Sen. Jason Howell, R-Murray, was approved by the House Education Committee Monday on a party-line vote, 16-4.
Critics, such as Chuck Eddy of Lexington, who testified against the legislation, have called it a “book banning” bill.
“I think we’ve got a real slippery slope here,” Eddy said. “Banning books is what happens in authoritarian regimes, like Nazi Germany, fascist Italy, Soviet Russia, the Taliban in Afghanistan... In contrast, we’re a democracy, a multicultural country, that is a secular democracy.”
Fayette County Public Schools media specialist Laura Barnes sent lawmakers a letter in favor of the legislation. She said phrases in Fayette County’s mission statement that say students should excel in a “global society” reflect a “globalist, Marxist, political agenda and should terrify parents who oppose indoctrination in schools.”
With the creation of the Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) department in Fayette County Schools, which mimics the Kentucky Department of Education, the district supports the teaching of Marxism, critical race theory and “white privilege,” she said.
“These divisive ideologies must be removed from the curriculum if students stand any chance of learning,” she wrote.
Barnes asked why Fayette County Schools was posting signs at entrances to highlight LGBTQ+ and activist communities in elementary schools. She asked why district media leaders were promoting books from the Rainbow Library like “Gender Queer” and “I am Jazz” in elementary schools.
“Why are unqualified classroom teachers talking about sexuality?” Barnes wrote. She asked why 5-to-11-year-olds need to know what happens in adult couples’ bedrooms.
In her letter, Barnes said she has no problems with any of the groups mentioned but did “challenge the way government agencies use groups, in this case our children, for political purposes” instead of setting high expectations for all children.
Fayette district officials did not immediately comment.
Miranda Stovall, Kentucky president of No Left Turn in Education, an activist group that describes itself as fighting for “education free from indoctrination,” led the ultimately unsuccessful charge to ban “Gender Queer” in Louisville schools. In addition to speaking against the bill, she provided lawmakers with a packet of information about controversial content in some youth books.
Books excerpted in the packet include “Trick” by Ellen Hopkins, about five troubled teens who fall into prostitution; “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson, a memoir of growing up as a queer, Black kid; and “Push” by Sapphire, the story of a teen girl sexually abused by her father, and is the basis for the movie “Precious.”
“Honestly, it’s not possible to ban a book in 2023. There’s multiple ways that everyone can get their hands on whatever books that they would like to read,” Stovall said. “What we are talking about is adult sexual content for children inside the public school building. The school is not a place that should be taking place for children.”
Stovall said she’d be fine with LGBTQ books as long as they don’t have “sexual content.”
What lawmakers are saying
State Rep. Josh Calloway, R-Hardinsburg, said bringing the conversation to the table is important because material at Kentucky schools are “sexualizing children.” At Monday’s committee meeting, Calloway said books in Kentucky schools expose them to pornography.
He said lawmakers should be as “bold” as possible on the issue.
Howell said some school districts give teachers more latitude than others.
“The purpose of this bill is to address issues that parents think may be obscene,” Howell said Monday. The bill’s purpose is to guarantee the parent’s involvement in their child’s access to this material they believe is harmful to their family values and interests, he has said.
“Everybody’s in a tizzy about some dirty books,” said Rep. Josie Raymond, D-Louisville, who asked what programs and events had been at issue in Kentucky. Howell said there have been “certain programs and events” but there wasn’t one particular event that spurred this.
Raymond asked Howell if he and other supporters were fighting “a losing battle.” Kids talk on the school bus, sleepovers and youth groups, and have access to the internet and TikTok, she pointed out.
“It’s quite an interesting battle,” Howell said. “In working through this, I thought about how much easier my parents had it. My mother was a high school English teacher and librarian, and I was always real frustrated when the swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated was not on the shelves so I could read about sports in the middle of that. We’ve progressed a lot since those days.”
Rep. Lisa Willner, D-Louisville, said the bill is not coming from a local issue in Kentucky, but from national “culture wars.” Willner said it seems like an enormous fuss over one parent’s concerns. She asked why parents could not opt out instead of wasting time of those in the education system.
Rep. Killian Timoney, R-Lexington, said he supported the bill because he believes materials in schools should be developmentally appropriate, but he said care should be taken about what is eliminated.
Details of complaint policy
The bill defines “harmful to minors” as material that contains, in an obscene manner, the unclothed or apparently unclothed human male or female genitals, pubic area, or buttocks or the female breast, or visual depictions of, simulations of, or explicit written descriptions of, sexual acts. “Harmful to minors” under the legislation also means, that taken as a whole, the material appeals to excessive interest in sex or is patently offensive to prevailing standards regarding what is suitable material for minors.
The policy must be in place by July 1, 2023. Complaints must provide the name of the complainant, a reasonably detailed description of the material that is alleged to be harmful to minors and how the material is believed to be harmful to minors.
Within seven business days of receiving a written complaint, the school principal must review the complaint and take reasonable steps to investigate the allegations including reviewing the material that is alleged to be harmful to minors. The school principal will determine whether the material that is the subject of the complaint is harmful to minors under the bill’s definition, and determine whether student access to the material shall remain or be restricted, or that the material will be removed from the school.
Appeals of the school principal’s determination can be made to the local school board. Parents could opt out of having their child participate.
Toni Konz Tatman, spokesperson for the Kentucky Department of Education, has said that under state law and many local school board policies, school districts already have an instructional materials complaint policy. Decisions rest with the superintendent.
What parents, advocates had to say
Several people spoke against the bill.
“I see this bill as nothing more than government overreach,” said Kenton County parent Alex Berling, “especially from the party that used to claim that they hate big government. ... Books are designed to make you think. As a parent, and when thinking about the future generation in general, I want them to have a great education, including having the tools to think for themselves.”
Emma Curtis asked lawmakers to revise or vote against the bill, which she says targets the LGBTQ community.
Kate Miller of the Kentucky ACLU said the bill could empower “too big of a government” and expressed concerns over students’ First Amendment rights.
Some parents spoke in favor of the bill.
Mirna Eads with a group called Moms for Liberty said her group is not banning books but challenging content.
“The word ‘porn’ and ‘kids’ should never be in the same sentence, but this seems to be in the world we are living in,” she said.
This story may be updated.
This story was originally published March 13, 2023 at 2:09 PM.
