The Orlando Sentinel published a two-page print spread Thursday listing 673 books that have been removed from classrooms in Orange County in 2023 due to fears they violate the state’s new laws bann…

The Orlando Sentinel published a two-page print spread Thursday listing 673 books that have been removed from classrooms in Orange County in 2023 due to fears they violate the state’s new laws banning “sexual conduct” from public schools.

Teachers with any of the 673 books on their classroom shelves have been instructed by the school district to remove them, the newspaper said, also noting that the Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) staff will review the list of rejected books once again, so it’s possible the books will eventually be returned to the classroom. The district began compiling the list over the summer.

The list stems from two Florida laws signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis ®, who is also running for president. They require media specialists to review books in libraries and classrooms, and to exclude books that include sexually lewd material or pornography. The legislation also aims to give parents greater ability to raise objections to their children’s education.

  • Echo Dot@feddit.uk
    51·
    11 months ago

    Alcohol isn’t banned you just need a license to sell it. The analogy doesn’t work though because it’s not like beer is allowed everywhere but wine isn’t. They are making objective decisions about the content of different versions of the same product.

    Also a huge number of those books have been available for decades or even a century so why are they suddenly a problem now?

    • OceanSoap@lemmy.ml
      15·
      11 months ago

      And these books aren’t banned, you just need a library card to take one home. They’re far more accessible than alcohol. Anyone of any age can pull from public libraries. The analogy does work, because alcohol and non alcohol are Noth drinks, there are just some that are age appropriate and some that aren’t. Kind of like books, but books are far, far more accessible and less strictly regulated, even when they’re pulled from school libraries.

      They’re a problem now because literal pornographic images and descriptions were found in some books in some school libraries, and when it was called to attention, the left doubled-down and tried to gaslight people by saying it wasn’t happening. The problem was, it *was happening, there was proof, and images and passenges were leaked.

      Now, I think we’ve got an overreach problem, but don’t get it wrong, this was absolutely a self-fulfilling prophecy. Just remove anything pornographic and we would have been good.