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by m_mueller 1364 days ago
I'd like a bit more differentiated discussion on this - does LGBTQ actually mean sexual topics or does it include a book where having same-sex parents is shown as normal? From skimming the article that wasn't quite clear to me.
2 comments

The latter. There's an entirely different category for sexual content. If you look at the bar chart, you'll see that these bans are predominantly targeting books that have LGBTQ characters. And books that have non-white characters.
One school board wouldn't let a parent read a except from one of the books due to the content being deemed inappropriate for children: https://www.foxnews.com/us/parent-reading-sexual-content-sch...
This is misleading.

It was a high-school level book being read over a broadcast which they wanted to make available for children not at a high school level.

It was being read by a mother of children who weren't in high school, and did not have access to the book.

Why would a mere depiction of gay characters be inappropriate for young children?
I don't know how you interpret this as "a mere depiction of gay characters."

The given quote in the video you linked to was:

"Excited now, he pushed into her, and she squeezed her eyes as tightly as she could, her tongue circling her lips. He pushed harder, his breath heavy and labored. She scratched his back, and he cried out. She bit his ear and pulled his hair."

This is a description of what appears to be heterosexual characters. Nor does it appear to be a "mere depiction". I would reserve that for something like "Heather Has Two Mommies" (a mere description of a homosexual couple) or "Mr. and Mrs. Brown" (a mere description of a heterosexual couple who have befriended a bear from darkest Peru).

I am responding to: "these bans are predominantly targeting books that have LGBTQ characters. And books that have non-white characters."

My assertion is that I wouldn't expect a book that simply had a gay character in it to receive that response from the school board.

I don't know. I didn't suggest it, nor did I make any mention or provide any opinion on the matter.

I read the article you published as evidence, and provided the context showing how you were misrepresenting the story to suit whatever false narrative you were pushing. I'm not sure what agenda you have here, but lying to demonstrate something is never a good sign.

I think the debate is not whether same-sex parents are depicted, but when they openly manifest their sexuality towards each other (like kissing) - some parents object to this.