Resources

How It Began…

Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 1969

This event and decision made by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1969 laid out the First Amendment for students and established the “Tinker Test,” which is a tool used to decipher a school faculty’s position in determining or disrupting rights in a student’s education. This case that was brought into the Supreme Court was based on the event in 1969, where students wore black armbands to school to protest American involvement in the Vietnam War. When the school board suspended the students who participated, the students brought the punishment to court, insisting this decision infringed upon their First Amendment rights of the freedom of speech. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the students, stating that in order for school administrators to take action against student protest, it must be based on valid terms that the actions must be disruptive or dangerous in order to be invalidated, and not solely based on opposing their position and opinion.

Island Trees School District v. Pico, 1982

This case from 1982 was a split decision in the U.S. Supreme Court, where a group of five students filed a lawsuit against the school when they banned nine books, claiming to be in violation of their First Amendment rights. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the school board, stating that they had the rights to decide to ban books based on their philosophical and political standards for the school. This decision was challenged and bought to the Second Circuit after the school boards’ motives for banning books were questioned. Because of this split decision, where no single opinion trumped the other, it is to this day a grey area when deciding if it violates First Amendment rights to ban books from school libraries and curricula. Some of the books questioned in this case included Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Black Boy by Richard Wright, and Best Short Stories of Negro Writers, which was edited by Langston Hughes.

A Little More History…

The First Amendment of the US Constitution

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution was written to prevent our government from interfering in our rights based on personal beliefs and religions, and upholds our rights to free speech, free press, freedom to assemble, and freedom to petition. It was added in 1791 as one of the ten amendments in the Bill of Rights.

Book Censorship in the US

Censorship is defined as “the regulation of speech and other forms of expression by an entrenched authority.” A banned book is a book that is removed from a library or school curricula, whereas a challenged book is one that is put up for question by an individual or group of people, in hopes of banning it.
“In 2022, a report by the American Library Association found that book censorship had increased to unprecedented levels. The report noted that much of the censorship was directed towards books featuring LGBT and racial minority perspectives.”

In the News…

At Least 15 US States Considering Cruel ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bills to Stop LGBTQ+ School Discussions

By JOE ALI
March 22nd, 2023

“Following in the footsteps of Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, more states in the US are seeking to restrict LGBTQ+ discussions in schools.”

Transgender Youth: ‘Forced Outing’ Bills Make Schools Unsafe

By HANNAH SCHOENBAUM AND SEAN MURPHY
Mar 22nd, 2023

“As hundreds of bills nationwide take aim at nearly every facet of transgender existence, from health care to athletics to bathroom access, trans kids and their families say certain proposals could eliminate one of the last remaining safe havens to explore their identities: K-12 public schools.”

‘Just the Tip of the Iceberg’: Kimberlé Crenshaw Warns Against Rightwing Battle Over Critical Race Theory

By GLORIA OLADIPO
March 4th, 2023

“The College Board, the organization that administers college readiness exams and AP courses for high schoolers to earn college credits, denied bending to political pressure amid accusations that the curriculum has been watered down”….
“But in what many viewed as a response to DeSantis’s ban, the work of Crenshaw and other high-profile progressive Black figures, such as Ta-Nehisi Coates, were relegated from required reading to ‘optional’ within the course.”

Arizona Launches ‘Anti-Woke’ Parent Hotline to Report Critical Race Theory, Gender Lessons

By BAILEE HILL
March 15th, 2023

“Arizona Superintendent of Public Schools Tom Horne deployed the ‘Empower Hotline’ for concerned parents to report topics their children are learning at school, including subjects like critical race theory and gender ideology.”

Over 1,600 Books Were Banned in U.S. School Districts in One Year – and the Number is Increasing

By CAITLIN O’KANE
Sept. 20th, 2022

“The number of books banned in American school districts is increasing, a new report by PEN America has found. Between July 2021 and June 2022, books were banned 2,532 times in public schools across the U.S., according to the nonprofit, which works to defend free expression…
Many books – 41% – that were banned included LGBTQ themes, protagonists or prominent secondary characters. A whopping 40% that were banned included people of color. Books with issues of race and racism (21%) and books with themes of rights and activism (10%) were also among those banned.”

School Library Book Sans are Seen as Targeting LGBTQ Content

By SCOTT McFETRIDGE, ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE and SARA CLINE
March 20th, 2023

“Sam Helmick, president of the Iowa Library Association, said communities should decide what’s in their libraries and that it’s important for children to have access to books that address their lives and questions. Helmick didn’t have that ability as a child, and students shouldn’t return to that time, she said.
‘Can we acknowledge that this will have a chilling effect?’ Helmick asked. ‘And when you tell me that books about myself as an asexual, nonbinary person who didn’t have those books in libraries when I was a kid to pick up and flip through, but now publishing has caught up with me and I can see representation of me — those will be behind the desk and that’s not supposed to make me feel less welcome, less seen and less represented in my library?’”

Bills and Proposed Legislation…

STOP W.O.K.E Act
May 2022

Photo retrieved from: https://www.flgov.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Stop-Woke-Handout.pdf

Florida’s Governor Signs Controversial Law Opponents Dubbed ‘Don’t Say Gay’

By JACLYN DIAZ
March 28, 2022

AKA “Stop the Sexualization of Children Act”
“During a press conference ahead of signing the law, DeSantis said teaching kindergarten-aged kids that ‘they can be whatever they want to be’ was ‘inappropriate’ for children.”

What’s in the So-Called “Don’t Say Gay” Bill That Could Impact the Whole Country

By LAUREL WAMSLEY
October 21st, 2022

The bill, called the ‘Stop the Sexualization of Children Act,’ aims ‘To prohibit the use of Federal funds to develop, implement, facilitate, or fund any sexually-oriented program, event, or literature for children under the age of 10, and for other purposes.’”