Virginia Schools Remove LGBTQ Book Amid Outright Controversy

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL – Public schools wa Northern Virginia County The Daily Signal has learned that they quietly removed the pro-LGBTQ book after parents criticized it for sexually explicit images.

Fairfax County Public Schools, a suburb of Washington, D.C., confirmed in emails to Stacy Langton’s parents that school libraries across the county have removed the book “Queer: A Graphic History” by Meg-John Barker.

“I’m surprised they did it quietly without notifying me, the public or the LGBTQ community” – Langton, a 55-year-old mother of two at Fairfax High School, he told The Daily Signal in a statement on Wednesday. “I guess it’s because it’s become so politically charged that they didn’t want to hand me something that looked like a victory – especially with the presidential election only a few days away!”

She suggested the news could have an impact on the election, with former President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee, trailing Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris by 5.8 points. RealClearPolitics Average.

Virginia has become ground zero for the debate over parental rights in education during Old Dominion’s 2021 gubernatorial election. Republican Glenn Youngkin won over the Democratic candidate, former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, after McAuliffe said“I won’t let parents come to schools, borrow books and make their own decisions,” he adds: “I don’t think parents should tell schools what to teach.”

“Virginia is playing for President Trump,” Langton told The Daily Signal. “We, parents, endured three years of indoctrination of our children in schools. The only person who can stop queer theory and gender ideology is Donald Trump, and the anger of parents in Virginia will help him win here on November 5, just like Glenn Youngkin won in 2021.”

The LGBTQ book has been removed

Langton, in remarks at School Board meetings, repeatedly condemned “Queer: A Graphic History” as sexually explicit. She accused the book of containing a graphic illustration of a sexual practice known as “pegging”, which reverses the traditional sexual roles of men and women.

She also faulted Maja Kobabe’s “Gender Queer: A Memoir” for including similar sexual illustrations (including a fantasy of a sexual act between an older man and a teenage boy).

Langton had he shot a video testimony to the Oct. 24 School Board meeting mentioning “Queer: A Graphic History,” but the school district refused to include her video in the meeting. (In any case, Langton testified in person, but the school district’s refusal revealed that the book had been deleted.)

Christina Setlow, Public Affairs Officer Fairfax County School Boardthat afternoon, she sent Langton an email citing “obscene and vulgar content.” She clarified that the content was about “Queer: A Graphic History” and added that the book “is not part of the (Fairfax County Public Schools) curriculum at any grade level and is not held in any FCPS library.”

Langton was curious about the lack of this book in libraries. She shared with The Daily Signal photos she took at Fairfax High School in late April 2023, in which “Queer: A Graphic History” appeared in an exhibit encouraging students to read “Queer: A Graphic History.”try an LGBT book!”

Langton suggested that FCPS avoided the normal process by which parents and others can question books in public school libraries. Noël Klimenko, assistant superintendent of the school district’s Division of Instructional Services, confirmed that the libraries followed a separate process by eliminating “Queer: A Graphic History” at the end of the 2022-2023 or 2023-2024 school year.

Klimenko added a longer explanation in a follow-up email. She claimed the book never faced a challenge, but added: “Librarians have made the decision to eliminate ‘Queer: A Graphic History’ from their collections due to outdated terminology that is no longer used in the LGBTQ+ community.”

“They determined that there were other books in their collection that contained accurate and up-to-date information on LGBTQ+ history and were an excellent source of information on this topic,” she added.

“The illustrations in this book are no different illustrations in “Gender Queer“” Langton told The Daily Signal. “They clearly show adult and deviant sexual acts. All books containing this type of pornographic material MUST be removed from our schools. They are violating federal obscenity laws.

Fairfax County Public Schools approved gender ideology lessons in June, endorsing a PBS video that tells children “there are transgender people or people who don’t have a gender.”

The “gender queer” controversy.

Fairfax County Public Schools previously removed Jonathan Evison’s novels “Gender Queer” and “Lawn Boy” after facing an official challenge. “Lawn Boy” contains long segments of a boy recalling a sexual experience he had at the age of 10.

In November 2021, the school district announced that he restored the books to the libraries after they had been checked by two committees. One committee determined that “Lawn Boy” contained themes that were “affirming to students” with marginalized identities. “The book does not mention pedophilia,” the commission added. The second committee said “Gender Queer” portrayed “difficulties that non-binary and asexual people may encounter.” The commission concluded that “the book does not depict or describe pedophilia.”

FCPS spokesman he told Fox News in 2022, the commission decided that “the books do not depict pedophilia or contain pornography.”

Langton told The Daily Signal that she plans to submit a new challenge to “Gender Queer” once the deadline for the previous challenge expires.

The school district did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment in response to Langton’s claims.