Florida School District Pulls Dictionaries, Encyclopedias From Library Over ‘Sexual’ Content
A faculty district in Florida’s panhandle reportedly pulled a number of dictionaries and reference books off its library cabinets for together with descriptions of “sexual conduct.”
Escambia County School District allegedly eliminated 5 completely different dictionaries, eight encyclopedias and the “The Guinness Book of World Records” from its assortment after figuring out the titles may run afoul of Florida’s HB 1069 invoice, which restricts sexual content material from being taught in colleges.
The books have been among the many 1,600 titles the general public faculty district took out of circulation final summer time, in response to an announcement from free speech advocacy group PEN America.
Decommissioned titles additionally embrace biographies of Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Oprah Winfrey, Nicki Minaj and Thurgood Marshall.
Though the books have been initially pulled in the course of the district’s 2023 summer time break, the Escambia County School District is now being compelled to defend its resolution in a federal lawsuit.
PEN America joined college students, dad and mom, e-book publishers and authors within the go well with, which argues the district violated their rights to free speech and equal safety underneath the regulation with its resolution.
In a press launch forward of the case’s opening arguments on Wednesday, PEN America’s Florida director Katie Blankenship mentioned, “School libraries are not state propaganda centers.”
“We will not stand by as these critical spaces are undermined by political agendas and censorship,” the assertion went on.
In a assertion to The Messenger, a consultant for the Escambia County School District mentioned calling the e-book removals a “ban” is inaccurate.
“The 1,000+ books they reference have not been banned or removed from the school district,” the spokesperson mentioned. “Rather, they have simply been pulled for further review to ensure compliance with the new legislation. To suggest otherwise is disingenuous and counterproductive.”
