Parents Lose Challenge To Ban Books From Fairfax County High School Libraries

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — Fairfax County Public Schools announced Tuesday it will reinstate two books that were pulled from high school libraries earlier this fall after the school system received complaints that the books contained pedophilia and sexually explicit material.

The two books — “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe and “Lawn Boy” by Jonathan Evison — were removed from FCPS libraries in high schools as a result of public comments during a Fairfax County School Board meeting in September. Both of the targeted books were then submitted to a book challenge under the county school system's process for challenging school materials.

After completing a two-month review process, the school district determined the challenges were "found to be without merit" and the two books could return to the shelves of its high school libraries.

Two committees formed by FCPS to review "Gender Queer" and "Lawn Boy" found that neither book includes pedophilia nor material that qualifies as obscene, under the definition in Virginia law, the school system said.

“I am satisfied that the books were selected according to FCPS regulations and are appropriate to include in libraries that serve high school students. Both books have value beyond their pages for students who may struggle to find relatable stories," Noel Klimenko, assistant superintendent of FCPS's Instructional Services Department, said in a statement Tuesday.

Members of FCPS Pride, an LGBTQIA+ and allies group for staff, parents and families in Fairfax County Public Schools, welcomed the school system's decision to return “Gender Queer” and “Lawn Boy” to circulation in school libraries.

"Having read the books and knowing that FCPS has a commitment to including and welcoming all students, we had faith that the process would be followed and literature that allows LGBTQIA+ students to see themselves, and which allows their peers to see that they exist, would be returned to circulation," FCPS Pride said in a statement Tuesday. "This is in concert with good pedagogy and U.S. Supreme Court precedent."

Along with Fairfax County, other school districts in Virginia are reviewing books and pulling them from circulation in high school libraries. One of those school districts, though, has backtracked on its plan to ban certain books.

The Spotsylvania County School Board rescinded a plan last week to remove books with sexually explicit content from school libraries, NBC4 reported. A ban established by the Spotsylvania County School Board earlier this month drew national attention after two school board members said they wanted to see books burned.

In the city of Harrisonburg, the schools superintendent ordered "Gender Queer" to be removed from the city's high school due to the sexually explicit nature of the book's images. Harrisonburg City Public Schools Superintendent Michael Richards told Patch that he was setting up a committee that would review his decision to order the book's removal.

Stacy Langton, a Fairfax City resident who was one of the speakers at the county school board meeting in September who spoke out against the books, also spoke at a Sept. 28 Fairfax City Council meeting.

After learning of the existence of "Gender Queer" and "Lawn Boy," Langton and her child, who is a student at Fairfax High School, visited the library there and checked out the two books.

In her comments to the city council, Langton repeated her claims that she was only trying to keep pornographic materials out of school libraries. "It's actually worse than I could have imagined, what is inside the books," she said, adding they were offensive and had no place in any school in Fairfax County.

FCPS established two committees of school administrators, librarians, parents and students were formed to consider whether the two books were suitable as optional independent reading material for high school students. Both books were withdrawn from FCPS library shelves during the review process.

SEE ALSO: LGBTQ+ Group Decries Efforts To Ban 2 Books From School Libraries

"After deliberate and lengthy discussions on the potential merits and concerns of the book as a literary work, and the potential merits and concerns associated with retaining or removing access to the book from students using school libraries, the committees unanimously recommended that the books should remain available," FCPS said in a statement Tuesday.

The final decision to reinstate the two books was made by Klimenko based on a process outlined in the county school system's regulations.

In response to the decision, the Virginia Association of School Librarians (VAASL) and the VAASL Intellectual Freedom committee expressed support for reinstating the two books into Fairfax County high school libraries after following school board policies.

"This decision was based on their review committees’ hard work, while following the Fairfax County School Board's policy and procedures that are established for handling book challenges," the VAASL said in a statement emailed to Patch.

Prior to getting pulled from school libraries, "Lawn Boy" was in 11 highs school libraries in the county. In its review of the book, the committee found "Lawn Boy" is an "accessible examination of race, class, socio-economic struggle, and sexual identity."

"The book has literary value as a narrative representing the perspective of a significant portion of students in Fairfax County Public Schools with a variety of backgrounds," the committee said. "There is no pedophilia present in the book."

Evison, the author of "Lawn Boy," told Patch he is glad his book has been reinstated in Fairfax County high school libraries.

"I hope it will continue to inspire and comfort young adult readers who have been marginalized economically, racially, or by virtue of their sexual identification, so that these young people might find their rightful place within the larger culture," Evison said. "Also, to those who would seek to ban books, I would add: at least read the damn book next time."

As an artist, Evison said he sees it as his responsibility "to rattle cages and provoke cultural dialogue when I feel it is useful."

"Of all the conversations I'd hoped to engage with Lawn Boy — wealth inequity, racial assumptions, the perils of late capitalism — I can assure you that pornography was nowhere among them," he said.

“Gender Queer” appears in the catalog of seven high schools in Fairfax County. The committee that reviewed the book noted it is a "well-written, scientifically based narrative of one person’s journey with gender identity that contains information and perspective that is not widely represented."

"This depiction includes the difficulties nonbinary and asexual individuals may face," the committee found. "Students with a related experience will feel affirmed and others can gain understanding and empathy."

The committee concluded that "Gender Queer" neither depicts nor describes pedophilia.

The Pride Liberation Project, a group of students in Fairfax County Public Schools who advocate for the rights of LGBTQIA+ students, said the decision affirms what students from across FCPS have been saying for months: "These books are not pornography or pedophilia, but valuable sources of support for vulnerable LGBTQIA+ students."

“I am relieved that our libraries will continue to have books that depict people like me," a student from Westfield High School said in a statement Tuesday. "It is isolating when LGBTQIA+ students are singled out and already limited Queer representation is taken away."

Robert Rigby, Jr., co-president for FCPS Pride and a 23-year FCPS faculty member, said the opposition to the books "was not really about the books."

"Some well-funded groups and political action committees have weaponized lingering animosity towards and lack of knowledge about LGBTQIA+ people and our inclusion in public education, for their own purposes," Rigby said in a statement.

"There has been much disruption to all of our lives during the pandemic: alas, this is being perpetuated into a constant ‘crisis in schools,'” Rigby said. "LGBTQ students and their peaceful existence in classes and schools have become 'collateral damage,’ with uncaring people exploiting their existence for other purposes.”

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