Texas book ban

Written By Jordyn Duncan
“Protecting the impressionable or harming LGBTQ+ youth”

Calloway County High School media center has a large selection of fiction books. School librarian Melissa Spiceland keeps up to date with new books as they are published.

Photo credit: Jordyn Duncan

The Keller Independent School District in Texas made a controversial decision right before school began this year. They decided to ban over 40 books from their libraries. The basis for this ban is to protect children from inappropriate and sexual content. A lot of the books banned by the district deal with topics of gender identity and sexual orientation. All books being debated were also challenged last year and were all reviewed by a board created by the school. Some of the books were returned to the shelves or were moved to the appropriate age level. Others were removed from circulation in the district. 

 One of the books being questioned includes “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe. This book features the author's adolescent story of growing up and exploring gender and sexuality. Matt Howerton from MSN wrote in an article about this topic calls the book ban purely political saying, “Republican lawmakers want to do away with books that touch on sex, gender or race.” This ban has brought some concern from parents of LGBTQ students who attend schools in this district. One parent, Gretchen Veling, whose son is a senior in the district and is a part of the LGBTQ community, feels like she cannot trust the district and said in an interview with Matt Howerton, “I feel like we're raising our kids in a homophobic area and that's just the facts.” This ban, gaining national coverage due to the moral dilemma, also comes at a time when we celebrate banned book week, which is a yearly event that celebrates the freedom to read from September 18-24th. 

 Many libraries across America set up displays and bring awareness to banned books and censorship. This Texas ban has been an uproar and looks like it may bring more people into this fight to protect books from censorship. The question for all parties is this: Is the issue really banning books to protect children from inappropriate content, or is it internalized homophobia making its way into the school system? Time will tell.  

Howerton, Matt “Mother of LGBTQ Keller ISD student voices concern after district suddenly pulls dozens of books before school begins” Accessed September 12th 

Jordyn Duncan

Jordyn is a junior this year, she is a good student, and enjoys reading and writing as well as listening to music. This is her first year working on the laker review. She is excited to explore this new area and the possibilities that come with it. As for her future, she aspires to find a career path to where she can help others.

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