Biden administration selects coordinator aiming to combat ‘book bans’
WASHINGTON, D.C. (FLV) – The Biden administration reportedly announced several actions to protect LGBTQ Americans including an effort to stop “book bans.”
On Thursday, the White House announced the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights will appoint a new coordinator to “address the growing threat that book bans pose for the civil rights of students.”
The coordinator will train school districts on how attempts to remove certain books or materials from school libraries “may violate federal civil rights laws if they create a hostile work environment, hostile environment for students,” White House domestic policy adviser Neera Tanden said.
The American Library Association applauded the Biden administration for the announcement.
“We are heartened by the Biden-Harris Administration’s leadership to address the alarming rise in book bans and other attacks on LGBTQIA+ Americans that aim to stigmatize and erase the voices of the LGBTQIA+ community,” The American Library Association President Lessa Kanani’opua Pelayo-Lozada said.
“Everyone deserves the opportunity to see themselves and their family reflected in the books in their library’s collection. Those books are a safe place, with stories that validate their experience and where they find acceptance, hope and can see a future.”
There has been a national conversation surrounding controversial books in schools. The DeSantis administration and Florida Republicans have given parents more leverage to challenge books they believe are inappropriate for children.
Under a new Florida law, challenged books are required to be removed from circulation until a decision is made on whether they are appropriate for grade levels. Critics of legislation like those provisions have said the state is wrongfully “banning books.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis responded to claims that his administration is “banning books” in March by releasing a video showing graphic content found in school library books.
The video included pictures from books that were found in schools that contained sexual imagery. It also listed out the schools that some of the books were located in.
“That’s [book ban] a hoax. And that’s really a nasty hoax, because it’s a hoax in service of trying to pollute and sexualize our children,” DeSantis said during a press conference in March.
DeSantis said exposing the book ban “hoax” is important because it reveals that “some are attempting to use our schools for indoctrination.”
“In Florida, pornographic and inappropriate materials that have been snuck into our classrooms and libraries to sexualize our students violate our state education standards. Florida is the education state and that means providing students with a quality education free from sexualization and harmful materials that are not age appropriate,” DeSantis said.
Florida’s Voice previously reported on multiple books that have been pulled, or are under review, including “This Book is Gay” by Juno Dawson, “Assassination Classroom” books by Yusei Matsui, “Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation” by Ari Folman, and more.
