jessicahorton.bsky.social
Graduate (of law). Writer (of words). Maker (of quilty things). Lover (of randomness). Cofounder (of https://www.letdavisread.org). She/her.
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Quilting and taking phoneless walks (it’s easier to flip off the neighborhood cybertruck that way)
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I'm very much looking forward to the day when Utah's sensitive materials law is declared unconstitutional. In the meantime, we're doing what we can to save these and other books. Please join us! This fight isn't over yet. www.fightforthefirst.org/petitions/le...
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I don't expect this challenge to go far. Because this book doesn't contain any sensitive material whatsoever, this book will ultimately be retained after a months-long review process. But I think we can expect more challenges that try to push the line of what constitutes "sensitive materials." 5/
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Book banners know this. But they are still trying to ban this book anyway. As many others have previously pointed out, book banners are trying to equate queerness with "porn" so they can ban books that include those characters, too. 4/
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As supporting evidence, they point to Trump's EO on "ending radical indoctrination in K-12 schooling." This EO, of course, does not provide any grounds for removing this book from DSD schools. Books may only be removed if they contain "sensitive materials" as defined by Utah law. 3/
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This book is so unobjectionable that it doesn't even have a "review" posted to BookLooks or Rated Books. But a parent still challenged it because they believe that a nonbinary character isn't age-appropriate for elementary school children. Here's the text of their complaint: 2/
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As someone who grew up in a very conservative world, I’m incredibly grateful for the people who took the time to answer my (often ignorant) questions. But I had to be willing to listen and sit with what they’d said and open myself to the possibility that truth can come from other sources.
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We have 30 days to appeal these books. I think it's worth submitting appeals, especially since some committee members left comments saying that these books don't actually violate the law. If you're in DSD and want to help, please reach out to #letdavisread using this form: forms.gle/3t7wZti1JMB1...
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4. WE ARE THE ANTS by Shaun David Hutchinson. Removed because the Objective Review Committee determined that "the book contains descriptions of human genitals in a state of arousal" in violation of Utah law. 5 out of 6 committee members voted to remove.
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Again, two committee members had feedback explaining that TWISTED does not actually contain "objective sensitive materials" (I included all of the comments with this one so you can see just how black and white the thinking is by the rest of the committee):
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3. TWISTED by Laurie Halse Anderson. Removed because the Objective Review Committee determined that "the book contains descriptions of human genitals in a state of arousal" in violation of Utah law. 4 out of 6 committee members voted to remove.
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Notably, two committee members had feedback specifying how THE HATE U GIVE does NOT violate the law:
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2. THE HATE U GIVE by Angie Thomas. Removed because the Objective Review Committee determined that "the book contains fondling or other erotic touching of human genitals" in violation of Utah law. 4 out of 6 committee members voted to remove.
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1. THE GIRL WHO FELL FROM THE SKY by Heidi W. Durrow. Removed because the Objective Review Committee determined that "the books contains sexual intercourse" in violation of Utah law. 4 out of 6 committee members voted to remove.
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By my count, DSD has now removed 95 books from school libraries. It stinks. And I'm nervous about some of the pending challenges. But we will keep watching and do what we can to save these books and fight for our students' right to read. /end
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I should note that our work hasn't been completely in vain. DSD has promised better rationale statements going forward that specify which part(s) of the law are violated. There are a handful of other challenges working their way through the process, so we'll be watching to make sure that happens. 6/
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In the coming days, DSD should post the committee members' feedback/comments for why these books were objectionable. So hopefully we'll have a better idea of how they came to their decision. 5/
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This is fairly routine for DSD—they have a history of removing books on appeal on a consent vote without any sort of discussion about their decision. It's also aggravating, given our repeat discussions with them and our public and private pleas for more transparency. 4/
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I guess this watered-down statement was enough, because the board voted unanimously to remove these books. But they did it as part of a consent vote with a number of other agenda items (i.e. they did not have any public debate or discussion explaining their decision). 3/
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Before the meeting, DSD gave the board an updated document that included a rationale statement. But the statement for each of these six books is the exact same. It basically says the book should be removed because it violates Utah's sensitive materials law. It doesn't provide any other details. 2/
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I know it doesn't feel like much, but please call your reps! I just called about the freezing of federal aid using this script and it was easy. I got voicemails on all of them (otherwise I would have been tempted to tell Mike Lee where to stick his pocket constitution).
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Thank you!
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And it makes the fight even uglier. Davis School District tried to follow the law and ban the Bible to be consistent, and the amount of blowback they received has made it exponentially harder to fight book bans in general.