School District Bans Queer Books While Considering Putting Guns in Classrooms
A school district in Texas has banned all books that mention the state of gender fluidity.During a contentious meeting on Monday, the Keller Independent School District board voted to ban any book that mentions gender-fluid characters or descriptions and discussions of the term from all schools.
Library books that mention gender fluidity were banned in a 4-3 vote by the conservative-majority school board.Public comment lasted nearly three hours before the board made its decision.
More than 70 speakers shared their opinions, with both sides about equally represented. Laney Hawes is a concerned mother of four children who served on the district’s committee that previously reviewed books that community members had flagged for review.
In August, when the Keller ISD abruptly ripped previously approved books from shelves, she told The Advocate that what was happening in her Texas community resulted from a manufactured culture war.Hawes told The Advocate Tuesday that she and other supporters of LGBTQ+ students in her Texas community are devastated but not surprised.“Sitting in the school board meeting last night and hearing how much anti-trans and anti-queer rhetoric spewed was astounding,” Hawes said. “I knew this kind of hate existed, [and] I thought I was prepared to hear it.
