WHy are Illinois politicians and School heads pushing porn?
DG99 SUPERINTENDENT THIELE: GENDER QUEER DOES NOT FALL UNDER LEGAL DEFINITION OF PORN.
District 99 Superintendent Dr. Hank Thiele is not backing off support of a book with illustrations of gay sex in the library at Downers Grove North and South High Schools.
In an email to Downers Grove 99 parent Terry Newsome after the dust-up, Thiele said he supports the book's inclusion in school district libraries.
“I believe the book Gen
District 99 Superintendent Dr. Hank Thiele is not backing off support of a book with illustrations of gay sex in the library at Downers Grove North and South High Schools.
In an email to Downers Grove 99 parent Terry Newsome after the dust-up, Thiele said he supports the book's inclusion in school district libraries.
“I believe the book Gender Queer does not fall under the legal definition of pornography,” Thiele told a parent in an email. “Our librarians should not be expected to comment or rule on this legal definition as librarians are not legal experts and should not be commenting on the legality of terms. The Board contracts with a team of attorneys to provide this expertise. Based on my conversations with the Board Attorneys, I do not believe the book qualifies as pornography. If it had, I would have removed it from the library immediately.”
The dictionary.com definition of “pornography” is “sexually explicit videos, photographs, writings, or the like, whose purpose is to elicit sexual arousal.”
Gender Queer is a graphic arts novel by Maia Kobabe.
The book — which includes illustrated scenes of graphic gay sex — has been the source of national fervor.
SEAN CASTEN CALLS IMAGES "PORN" THAT WERE BLOW-UPS OF BOOKS IN KID'S LIBRARY.
Congressman Sean Casten (D-Downers Grove) who recently hosted a roundtable at Indian Prairie Library on an anti-book banning law recently signed by Gov. JB Pritzker, a law that comes with the threat of stripping funding to ensure sexually graphic books like “Gender Queer” and “All Boys Aren’t Blue” remain on library shelves.
Terry Newsome,
Congressman Sean Casten (D-Downers Grove) who recently hosted a roundtable at Indian Prairie Library on an anti-book banning law recently signed by Gov. JB Pritzker, a law that comes with the threat of stripping funding to ensure sexually graphic books like “Gender Queer” and “All Boys Aren’t Blue” remain on library shelves.
Terry Newsome, 62, who is president of the Illinois Chapter of the South Carolina-based U.S. Parents Involved in Education (USPIE), brought to the meeting blow-up posters of graphics from Gender Queer showing kids engaged in oral sex, and forced Casten into a rhetorical trap.
“Now I’m confused,” Newsome told the DuPage Policy Journal referring to the confrontation with Casten. “For two years we've been told by Hank Thiele, D99 Superintendent, principals and librarians that the oral sex images are not pornography, and then two weeks ago Casten chastises me for bringing what he now claims is pornography to the library. I would like to understand why after two years did Sean Casten change his mind agreeing these images are pornographic.
GENDER QUEER AUTHOR: "I DON'T RECOMMEND THIS BOOK FOR KIDS."
GENDER QUEER AUTHOR: "I DON'T RECOMMEND THIS BOOK FOR KIDS."
WASHINGTON (CITC) — The author of "Gender Queer" is asserting that the controversial book is not intended for children.
"Gender Queer" has topped the American Library Association's list of most challenged books in recent years. The memoir, which accounts author Maia Kobabe's own exploration of gender identity, has sparked concerns in paren
WASHINGTON (CITC) — The author of "Gender Queer" is asserting that the controversial book is not intended for children.
"Gender Queer" has topped the American Library Association's list of most challenged books in recent years. The memoir, which accounts author Maia Kobabe's own exploration of gender identity, has sparked concerns in parents nationwide due to its sexually explicit content.
It has been removed from schools in several states, including Texas, Pennsylvania and Michigan. The New York State Education Department retracted its support of the book after becoming "aware" of its "graphic nature."
Last week, "Gender Queer" was used on the Senate floor as an example to support school book bans. Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., read a passage discussing a character trying on a "strap-on harness" to prove that the book's contents are inappropriate for young students.
However, Kobabe says the lawmaker misunderstood the book's target audience.
"'Gender Queer' is a comic, and in full color, but that doesn't mean it's for children," Kobabe said in an interview with The Washington Post Thursday. "I originally wrote it for my parents and then for older teens who were already asking these questions about themselves. I don't recommend this book for kids!"