Posted on 12/20/2023 2:15:15 PM PST by Morgana
A police officer searched a Massachusetts middle school after someone reported that a book with explicit material was being read in an eighth-grade classroom.
The plain-clothes cop was reportedly wearing a bodycam when he entered W.E.B. Du Bois Regional Middle School in Great Barrington.
The officer was looking for the graphic novel, Gender Queer: A Memoir, after police received a complaint on December 8 about 'concerning illustrations' in the book.
Great Barrington Police Chief Paul Storti said the person who made the complaint provided an image that showed illustrated characters in sexual acts.
The officer was escorted by school officials during the search but did not find the book.
The school district has apologized for how it handled the incident, saying it does not support book banning.
The book by author Maia Kobabe, who uses 'e/em/eir' pronouns, explores gender and sexual identity from an adolescent's perspective. According to publisher Simon & Schuster, 'it started as a way to explain to eir family what it means to be nonbinary and asexual.'
The school's principal Miles Wheat told Boston.com the book is not included in the curriculum, but a teacher had made it available in her classroom.
The American Civil Liberties Union expressed concern over the incident and has requested the bodycam footage.
Managing attorney with the ACLU Ruth Buorquin told The Berkshire Eagle that 'Police going into schools and searching for books is the sort of thing you hear about in communist China and Russia.'
The graphic novel has previously sparked backlash, particularly after a Louisiana lawmaker read explicit passages out loud during a Senate hearing.
Senator John Kennedy, 71, read aloud from Gender Queer during the hearing because it is currently allowed in Illinois schools.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
That was my point.
“ Police entering kids classrooms looking for banned books isn’t a good look.”
That’s the perception you want to give.
But it’s looking for pornography in a children’s classroom.
Pornography that is not banned.
But intellectual honesty is not something the left cares about.
Do you think pornography should be made available to 12-14 year olds in their schools?
I assume you’ll say no, but I’m not sure you will.
Assuming that you do agree, would it be better to have asked the Principal to remove it?
If the school officials refused what other means to remove pornography from children in the school would you recommend?
If the teacher “provided” students with a Bible, the teacher would be immediately fired.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.