A school board meeting in Dearborn, Michigan was suspended after hundreds of protesters flooded the meeting space demanding that LGBTQ books be removed from school libraries.
The October 10th school board meeting in Dearborn is just the latest front in a growing war between school librarians and concerned parents over “pornographic” LGBTQ-adjacent content available to kids in libraries.
A bit of background:
In the last few years, the war on "inappropriate" books in school has escalated from attempted book bans, to burning the offending books, to towns defunding and closing their libraries entirely.
The movement, largely spearheaded by evangelical Christians, has a familiar mantra at its core: Think of the children. Examples of the content parents have objected to include cartoon mouse nudity and reading events featuring drag queens.
Now, it would seem a valuable new ally has joined the evangelicals in their crusade to keep anything even remotely gay out of our nation’s library halls: conservative Muslims.
Not Your Average School Board Meeting
The October 10th school board meeting in Dearborn was a raucous event that quickly descended into chaos. The meeting was held to discuss books deemed “sexually explicit” by some community members, but an alliance of Dearborn’s concerned Christian and Muslim communities flooded the meeting hall, resulting in the board ultimately suspending the meeting.
Interestingly, it was Dearborn’s Christian community that first raised alarms about LGBTQ books in schools, following a parental complaint about the school library’s book selection – a complaint that ultimately led to seven books being temporarily pulled out of circulation while the school reviewed their content.
But once Christians got local Muslims on board, they had an army of upset parents. Nearly half of Dearborn's residents are Arab American, a considerable portion of which practice the Muslim faith.
And for weeks, Muslim leaders in the Dearborn community were urging their congregations to attend the meeting to make their voices heard. As one local Imam stated, “some of those books are completely inappropriate for our children to read. Some of those books promote pornography. Some of them promote homosexuality. We don’t need this.”
That all resulted in a meeting packed so full that a police presence was required. Hundreds of protesters showed up with signs reading “Keep your porno books to yourself” and “Stop grooming our kids”.
The oversized and worked-up crowd quickly turned chaotic, with many shouting accusations towards and threatening to vote out the school board members. Soon after, board chair Roxanne McDonald ended the meeting, arguing that the large number of protesters were violating the building’s fire code.
Not the Final Chapter
The meeting’s been rescheduled to a larger space, and the board says they’re committed to hearing all the complaints.
But, they say, they’ve introduced a new formal policy for challenging books in the school library. They say that parents can block their children from checking out whichever books they’d like, or block them from using the school library entirely. \
There’s also a book-challenging process that parents can use, resulting in five district specialists independently examining the text and ruling on whether the book is age appropriate.
Parents can now block their kids from checking whichever books they want, or from even setting foot in the library altogether.
The big question remains: will that be the end of it? Clearly, some members of the community think such measures aren't enough.
What is your reaction? Should concerned parents have the right to get books banned from school libraries entirely?
62 comments
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Gail Batson
Public schools are here to teach math, science, reading and writing, English, civics, history, etc. They should not be teaching or allow reading on anything that has to do with anything sexual or gender. I understand that we live in a world where some belief in all these different genders and or sexual preferences but this should be taught or talked about at home not in our schools. There are public libraries in almost every town that have these books. If a parent agrees for their child to read these books fine if not then no big deal. A public library is an answer. These books do not belong in our school libraries. Schools should get back to basics. I went to school from 65 to 81 and all we learned was the subjects at the top. And home economics. Which should be taught again. Do y'all realize most kids graduate and have no clue how to handle a bank account? My nephew went when they decided to stop teaching cursive then a yr later they realized that was a mistake so he now cannot read or write cursive. So to be fair to all. Schools should get back to basics. And have public libraries for all books.
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Melissae Lila-Jean Bletsian
I actually listened to the parent who was reading excerpts from one of the books available to kids and it is WILDLY inappropriate. I am a woman who sometimes identifies as a queer gf female dominatrix who also does burlesque and drag, I've been as deeply entrenched in that culture as one can get and I can say for certain that things have gone too far. We are being used against ourselves to propagate and reinforce stereotypes and usher in the dark forces. I can't believe we're having this discussion on a platform geared for people of the cloth. I can't believe my brothers and sisters are blind to the harm that is being done in the name of inclusivity. Everything has been inverted.
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Jeffrey Delaney
Parents need to be vocal about their wishes for their children, but it is also the parents responsibility to educate them and raise them in the home according to their belief system what ever that may be. And no one else has the right to say anything about how’s that’s done…. Live and let live
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Pastor George Day
Jeffrey Delaney, I'm afraid there's a balance to that. The community has a responsibility to educate children to safeguard and diversity, and if parents prevent that, then the community has a right to intervene, as in any other matters.
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Danny D. Maynard
Censorship of any sort is offensive to a sane and educated human being.
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Caleb McKean
I went through Dearborn and was pulled over waiting for a bus because a white male was caught stealing a Pop Tart in a store I never entered then gave me a ride to the Detroit Dearborn border and kicked me out for being white on a Saturday night.
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Eric D Peck
We can only hope that children go to libraries, pick out books, and read them. If you are worried that your child may believe something you don't like- welcome to parenting.
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Shirley Jean Davis
Parents who watch over their children well shouldn't try to impose their values on everyone else. Sure, if these parents do not like these books they should forbid their children from reading them, but burning and banning books isn't an answer.
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Pastor George Day
If the content of the books is decently laid out, I do not see a reason to ban the books. Children need to be educated to LGBT as a fact of life, just like divorce is a fact of life. I do not see the same fuss made about books disclosing divorce situations.
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Melissa Woods
I agree no one should tell anyone how to raise their child as long as that child is not being abused we need to Bud out. I think that we need to start sweeping under our own doorsteps before we go sweeping under anybody else's I'm a spiritual person I believe in God but I don't think that we should tell anybody the way to live the Christians don't stop what they're doing and start focusing on the things that really matter in this world people are going to lose faith we need to sit there and focus on things that really matter in this world human trafficking child abuse and that's just some of the things but that's just my opinion God bless each one of y'all
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Rev. Dr. Father JJ
why do the crstans always think that they are right and everyone else is wrong? classic tyranny of the majority. your god spoke to you, not me so why should i be forced to obey what you think your god commands?
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NLilly
They Still Don't Get It:
The (Ruling Party) Agendas To Divide And Conquer The Masses For Their Global Master Plans! And Schools Are No Different!
They already have the answer. This meeting is just to 'save face'.
Public Schools will incorporate unwanted materials because this is what they are being told to do, to come into compliance with the 'Ruling Party'. So, to offer the parents the right to block / excuse their children from participation is the best they will get!
Times are becoming much more darker and sinister now-a-days; and for those who are spiritually asleep and have absolutely no Spiritual Foundation / Moral Compass what-so-ever will easily fit into the fold of darkness and its deception.
Those living in the Light of JESUS CHRIST or some other 'Moral Guidance' within their own upbringing will see through this dark and soul destroying agenda.
There's always a way around this forbidden madness without seeking to destroy the rights of all upon the Land of the Living. I stand with the Parents who object; and I pray that they embrace the Faith within themselves to pray for Wisdom and prepare to block their children from participating in any such degrading behaviors; even to the point of finding a school of their moral choice, or even consider 'Home Schooling' their own.
How very sad, folks allow the enemy of their souls to cause them to destroy their own Rights, by seeking to destroy the rights of others, when we're all sharing this earth together.
May We Remember Lot and how GOD ALMIGHTY spared him and his family by allowing them to leave, to pull out, before HIS Righteous Indignation poured out and destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah! Amen! They think this is bad? Just wait til 2023 comes in.
The 'Ruling Party' has a Global Financial Agenda That Will Affect All Life, No Matter What Any Believes / Practices!
BUT GOD ALMIGHTY! HE Will Surely Save, In CHRIST JESUS Name And Glorious Works, HIS OWN! AMEN! LORD JESUS! AMEN! ♥ ♥ HALLELUYAH!!! ♥ ♥
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Lionheart
Yes, let us remember Lot, and his incestuous relationship with his daughters…..oh…..but wait, don’t tell children that. And while we’re at it, don’t tell children about Noah’s daughters having a sexual relationship with their drunkard dad. 🤷🏼
I wonder if Jesus was in fact real? Any real evidence? 🤔
🦁❤️
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Carl Bernard Elfstrom
Lionheart, take my word for it. Jesus never existed. It was just a fictional story.
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Lionheart
🤭 I’m sure you’re right, Carl, but in reality we don’t really know if it was all fictional, but I guess until someone has hard evidence to show otherwise, we can possibly assume you’re right 🤗
🦁❤️
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Pastor George Day
Lionheart, there is archeological evidence of Jesus' existence as the brother of James and son of Joseph.
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Lionheart
Perhaps you can point me to that evidence, George? 🤷🏼
🦁❤️
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Pastor George Day
Lionheart, you can do a Google search. I'm lacking the time.
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Pastor George Day
Lionheart, you he was real. The question is if his message was believable.
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Lionheart
Let’s pretend for a moment that this person was real, who knows what he ever really said? Everything written about the biblical character was written by people who never met him. 🤷🏼
🦁❤️
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Pastor George Day
Lionheart, you choose to believe what you want to believe. As I have pointed out before, you should check Lee Strobel's exact research. Otherwise, you make yourself guilty of contempt prior to investigation. I recommend The Case for Christ by the above author.
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Alexander Arends
As in recent government, it seems like you are either for something or against it. Stalemate.
Yes it is possible to come to agreements by opposing parties, but that will only happen if both parties work towards that end.
Thre is no need to burn books but there is nothing wrong with keeping certain books, magazines or videos out of the hands of children. If libraries want to make such books available to the public, they don't have to be publicly displayed but make them available to adults, or to children with parental consent.
Children don't need to be exposed to books promoting (and encouraging) a different life style. You would probably be in agreement with me if the material promoted certain violence or bomb making.
By the way, it are not just zealous Christians or Moslems that want to make certain books unavailable to children. There are plenty of reasonable parents who don't want to to relinquish control of raising their children
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Dawn
The crazy christians and crazy muslims working together. If that doesn’t scare you…The extremist christians have been jealous of the extremist muslims as they have so much control via sharia law. Can universal sharia law be far off ? The fact that an imam encouraged this should have their 501(c) religion non-profit tax status revoked.
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Asa William Sprague, II
Dawn,
Considering that these protest have nothing to do with either Democratic or Republican policies, I doubt that they would qualify as "political speech."
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Latonia Adams
I can’t advocate for banning books. Censorship is not going to stop anyone from finding information.
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Pastor George Day
Latonia Adams, censorship is actually against the freedom of speech!
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Matthew Mastrogiovanni
Fahrenheit 451 is coming.
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Dr. Zerpersande, NSC
This site needs to be changed to:
Religious People Do The Darnedest Things
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CB Cuff
If you're a vegetarian, you don't eat meat by choice. If these people don't like the public school why do they continue to enroll their children there? They too can make a better choice which aligns with their beliefs, rather than trying to shame others. Look at the damage the FLDS caused to thousands of school age children via their extremism.
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Bishop William Dusenberry, DD
C B — parents, who send their kids to religious places (AKA, schools of indoctrination) do so, so that they can be religiously brainwashed— before they reach the age of reason.
And the religious-brainwashing of little kiddies is clearly child abuse.
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Carl Bernard Elfstrom
Those christian elementary schools didn't brain wash me! I was expelled from two them, and told they'd never take me in another one, for which I could only say "Thankyou, Jesus"!
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CB Cuff
I don't disagree, at all. Try taking that to court in Utah or some of the more remote areas of Arizona and Nevada, where the town 'officials' are corrupted by the church....where abuse is seen as the freedom to express religious rights.
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Pastor George Day
FLDS ??
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Danny D. Maynard
Fundamentalist church of jesus christ of Latter-Day Saints
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamentalist_Church_of_Jesus_Christ_of_Latter-Day_Saints
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Pastor George Day
Interesting. Thank you. I remember this from watching the news.
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Danny D. Maynard
Comment removed by user.
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Michael Burton
Organized religions depend on the ability to keep followers ignorant and a good way to do that is to deny them exposure to any outside ideas; this is all about power.
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Richard Darwin Richards
Keep sex out of children's curriculum, PERIOD!!!!!
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Rebecca Lynn Bieniek
Totally agree with you. This is pure indoctrination and is coming from a wicked source. Let the children be children. We can teach them Love and discernment, we can teach what faith then parents follow and to abide by that faith. When they are adults, they can choose the way they want to go, but as children they are under their parents.
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Rev. MichaelRS
What a conundrum for the mainstream media and the Biden justice department;
We know that dismissing them as"white, Christian nationalists" is definitely out, but will they still be referring to all of these upset Muslim parents as "domestic terrorists"?
And the Christians "got them on board"? Do the adults in the Dearborn Muslim community have nothing but childlike minds that they can be manipulated into taking this type of action against their better judgment and will?
Or is there something outside of methods of worships and the "road to salvation" that they both can 100% agree on.
BTW, be a little bit of an independent thinker and do a little research to find out exactly what it is they are protesting about. I think you will find out it's not exactly what the activist are saying it is.
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Krystina S.
Here we go again. Narrowminded religious zealots. It is just terrible. Let people read books. Reading doesn't make a child gay or against their religion. Reading widely may make a child more intelligent, more compassionate, more accepting. As a person with a MILS in Information and Library Studies, I am just enraged at this book banning, book burning craziness.
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Pastor Jim
Parents have the right to raise their children by their standards, culture, religion, and morality. It's not for me, or you, to dictate to them how their children should be reared and influenced.
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Geoffrey C. Olive
Neither is dictating what a public school does regarding your religion. If that’s what motivates a book ban based on bigoted religious views, then parents should send their children to a religious school and leave public education separated from religion as required under the Constitution.
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Rev Mark D
Well Geoffrey, if I have my kids go to a religious school, do I get relieved of the taxes I pay that go to the school district, so I can pay for my kids education? Or do I have to pay extra, pay for my kids twice, first to the school district and then second to the school they actually go to?
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Aron Mark Doherty
Well Rev Mark D, as a gay taxpayer with no kids, do I get relieved of the taxes I pay towards the education of your kids to attend a school that doesn’t want to acknowledge that I exist?
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Rev Mark D
I hope so...but they can't deny you exist, just fool themselves. But my kids are going to pay the taxes that become the dollars the government pays you for retirement and Medicare coverage... Down the street lights that keep you safe. I hardly see you turning that away.
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Pastor George Day
Well said, Aron Mark Doherty!
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Geoffrey C. Olive
First question answer is no tax relief because we all have to pay tax for public schools for everyone whether or not they can afford private or religious schools. Plenty of other similar things, like paying road tax for roads I don’t use, parks I never visit, and many other local facilities I never use, etc!
Yes to your second question. If you choose to send the child to a religious school, ask any church as they don’t have to pay any taxes, to reimburse you! Don’t hold your breath waiting for that!
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James Riggle-Johnson
What about the other parents and kids that want to read those LGBTQ books? They have a right to have access. Parents who don't want their children reading about it should tell their children not to read it. Leave the rest of us alone. It's simple. Teach religion at home and at church. Leave religion, and all the rest out of our schools.
School is for learing, about all subjects, including subjects about who their kids will meet in the real world.
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Dr. Zerpersande, NSC
Do so. But STFU about how the rest of the world goes about their lives. The people you think are ‘going against god’s laws’ are coming after you and telling you that you can’t live your life the way you see fit.
Tell you what, bud. When the world does turn against religious people and they DO start active measures to limit your right to believe what you wish, I’m going to be very tempted to say…
Not my circus, not my monkeys.
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Pastor George Day
STFU ??
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Rev. B
STFU = Shut The F Up
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Geoffrey C. Olive
Neither is dictating what a public school does regarding your religion. If that’s what motivates a book ban based on bigoted religious views, then parents should send their children to a religious school and leave public education separated from religion as required under the Constitution.
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Dawn
James, that’s not the issue here. They want books banned -FOR EVERYONE, not just their children. See? Kind of like banning abortion for all women cuz you don’t like it. Get a vasectomy and you won’t be the cause of an abortion!
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Amber Fry
I don't know where you get that idea. Schools are not meant to raise your kids. They are meant to teach and inform them of the world around them. You cannot put your kids in something like that with a large mix of different ideas and expect they won't learn more than what's going on at home. That's been the point all along. Either home school them or get over yourself and let them learn.
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Pastor George Day
James Michael Fish, parents do not have a right to interfere with the proper education of children. They may have a say, but under the law education must entail respect for all. LGBT, just like divorce, is a fact. One does not have to agree simply by being made aware of it. But respect must be taught.
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William Moses
Sometimes children need to be protected from their own parents. Certainly not the majority, but there are those parents that are uninformed, uneducated, and therefore misguided when it comes to raising their own children.
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His Holiness Doctor C.
Discuss over a bacon sandwich and a bottle of beer... and all will be fine!
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Pastor Jim
Hell yeah!!!!
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Rev Mark D
Make mine a cheeseburger so we can eliminate observant Jews while we're at it, right James?
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Pastor George Day
Rev Mark D, how about vegetarians?
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Pastor George Day
Colin Geoffrey Saysell, I am vegetarian!
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They would thrive in Iran.