A Virginia school district unanimously voted to remove a sexually explicit book from its high school library shelves.
A Loudoun County Public Schools school board committee voted in a 3-0 decision to support Superintendent Scott Ziegler’s directive to remove Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe on Jan. 13.
Parental concerns about illustrations of oral sex, masturbation, and sexual activity between a boy and a man prompted a review of the book. A committee previously recommended on a split vote that the book remain, but Ziegler chose to remove the book. An appeal was filed, prompting the most recent review.
Ian Serotkin, vice chairman of the LCPS board, explained why he voted to remove the book in a Facebook post.
“Sexual content is a large part of this book,” Serotkin said. “It is not fleeting or brief. The sexually explicit illustrations which have gotten significant media and public attention may only appear on a handful of pages, but sexual themes are pervasive throughout the book. And, the sexually explicit illustrations themselves cannot be ignored. I think I can draw a line between something being described in writing and it being depicted in living color.”
Serotkin noted that previous book reviews with some sexually explicit content or themes offered, in his opinion, “literary and educational value [that] clearly outweighed the material that might be considered objectionable or inappropriate.”
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However, Gender Queer was viewed differently by the LCPS school board committee.
“The question we must ask is, ’Is every good book an appropriate book for a student library?’” Serotkin said. “In this case, for the reasons I have listed, my conclusion is that this one is not.”
