Author Says District 200 Canceled Visit Due To LGBT Content

WHEATON, IL — A children's author has penned an open letter to Community Unit School District 200 in Wheaton after alleging that the district canceled their Oct. 2 visit to Longfellow Elementary due to LGBTQ content in her book. Robin Stevenson, author of Kid Activists wrote that "The reason given [for the canceled visit] was that a parent had complained because one of the activists included in the book is Harvey Milk."

Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in California, was an LGBTQ activist until his murder in 1978.

Stevenson went on to say,

"This action sends a very harmful message to students, particularly students who are themselves LGBTQ+ or have family members who are part of the LGBTQ+ community. It says that their lives can’t be talked about, that their very existence is seen as shameful or dangerous. It says that no matter how significant their accomplishments, or how much they contribute to the world, they can be erased and made invisible because of who they are."

District 200 countered with an article of its own on Medium, saying that "The day before the author’s visit, a parent contacted Longfellow Administration with concerns about the process we utilize to inform parents about author visits and the contents of the presentation and promotion."

They went on,

"It was at that time Administration was informed that the school did not communicate to Longfellow parents information about the content of the book being presented and promoted by the author. As a result, parents/guardians were not provided a sufficient opportunity to review the information and determine whether they wanted their child to participate in the program. Parents were only informed of the author’s visit, not the content of the book, presentation and promotion."

District 200 alleges that " The event was not canceled because of a specific character in the book; the event was canceled based on the lack of appropriate notification of the author’s visit."

District officials went on to emphasize that they "care deeply about all students and that they "look forward to speaking with the author and discussing the possibility of scheduling a visit to our school community in the future."