These Sad Ways by Anonymous

As a parent, you have the authority to instruct and control your children and, specifically, what they read. And the actions taken by other parents regarding what their children have access to read are their choice. Moms for Liberty is a group of Moms based in Brevard County who were the ultimate cause and support of the banned book list in the public school system of Brevard. While this does not restrict the buying of such books from bookstores and public libraries, it does limit the options of children who for any reason are unable to purchase said books, or do not have access to a public library. The specific topics of the books banned project the group's discrimination towards LGBTQIA+ representation, as well as their distaste for the criticism of conservative Christianity found in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. The group’s addition of Slaughterhouse-Five (Kurt Vonnegut Jr.) to their blacklist concerned many within Brevard, and Moms for Liberty has yet to respond to their inquiries about the removal of the classically assigned AP English novel. Inclusions of certain aspects of critical race theory in The Bluest Eye (Toni Morrison) qualified it to be added to the ever-growing list likely for reasons of interpretation and sensitivity. Whether certain themes should be off-limits to ‘protect’ children is the choice of the parents of those children and should not dictate accessibility for the whole public school student population. 

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The group’s criticism of public communication about the LGBTQIA+ community is more blatantly expressed by their push for the “Don’t Say Gay” law, preventing teachers from communicating with their students about gender identity, sexuality, et cetera, in the public schools' campus. However, the homophobic, transphobic, and queerphobic views of this group are more disguised within their blacklisting actions. This does not in any sense mean that these biases are at all justifiable in restricting the children of others through a totalitarian obstruction of public information through the art of writing. Books included in the banned book list that have likely been added because of their LGBTQIA+ components include; Genderqueer: A Memoir (Maia Kobabe), This Book Is Gay (James Dawson), All Boys Aren’t Blue (George M. Johnson), and The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Stephen Chbosky). Both the "Don't Say Gay" law and the removal of these targeted books may negatively affect the students experiencing discrimination about sexuality and other LGBTQIA+ aspects, especially those who are unaware of the origin of the removal of the aforementioned titles. Students may believe that they are unsupported by their teachers and other trusted adults in the school environment. As a result, public LGBTQIA+ communities may find their population falling because of fear of judgment from parents and peers. 

The ban on Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is even more controversial because of its likely religious-driven opinion. The story depicts a dystopian American setting where the country is governed by a theocracy that allows/forces women to be bred with military families. Moms for Liberty criticizes its availability to children for sexual content, an argument used to blacklist a few books also falling under the guise of overinfluentially LGBTQIA+, though it is likely banned because of its blunt message about the negatives that a religion-driven country may exhibit. Both The Handmaid's Tale and Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five are often used by English Literature teachers in the affected public schools, and therefore caused no small amount of concern by the County. Slaughterhouse-Five is additionally the main focus of Adam Tritt, an AP English teacher at Bayside, who received a large amount of negative attention for his participation/creation in banned book drives and fundraisers to protest Brevard’s book ban.

Another of several segregations made by the Moms for Liberty group is critical race theory. Critical race theory is the study of how race, society, and various legalities intersect in the world and history. The Bluest Eyes and The Kite Runner both examine the effect of race on societal treatment and, you guessed it, appear on the Moms’ blacklist. However, the reason for this is not entirely as it sounds. The group doesn’t simply want the history of how some races were discriminated against to be ignored, but critical race theory is a certain lens that can be looked through as a way to analyze the past as it was put forth in said books. Many groups believe that the teaching of how some races were treated by the white population will “traumatize” the caucasian students and cause them to feel bad for what their ancestors did. The book ban in Tennessee even gave off the impression that they believed children would believe that said discrimination would be occurring still, despite learning about the rights given to all minorities post-civil war. 

​You indeed have the ability to censor the reading material of your own child, even for reasons that may be illogical. You may have beliefs that enforce this ban of knowledge onto your children that cannot be challenged. However, forcing those beliefs onto others by a ban of what should be respected as informational material in its own right is overstepping the rights of what you may do to achieve that end. Illogical arguments for irresponsible actions are a recipe for disaster. Spend your time and energy on something more useful.

​Works Cited

Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. Virago, 1985. 

Chbosky, Steven. The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Gallery Books, 1999. Dawson, Juno, et al. This Book Is Gay. Hot Key Books, 2020. 

Gallion, Bailey. “Brevard Teacher's 'Banned Book' Drive Raises over $5,000, Angers Moms For Liberty.” Florida Today, Florida Today, 2 June 2022, www.floridatoday.com/story/news/education/2022/05/31/moms-liberty-criticizes-banned book-drive-brevard-teacher/9925288002/. 

Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. Bloomsbury, 2011. 

Johnson, George M. All Boys Aren't Blue. Penguin Books, 2021. 

Kobabe, Maia. Genderqueer: A Memoir. Lion Forge, 2019. 

Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye. New York, 1972. 

Vonnegut, Kurt. Slaughterhouse-Five. Cornelsen Schwann, 1989.