this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2023
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Librarians in public schools in Charlotte County, Florida, were instructed by the school district superintendent to remove all books with LGBTQ characters or themes from school and classroom libraries. The guidance by Charlotte County Superintendent Mark Vianello and the school board's attorney, Michael McKinley, was obtained by the Florida Freedom to Read Project (FFTRP) through a public records request and shared with Popular Information. FFTRP requested "electronic records of district and school decisions regarding classroom and library materials." In response, FFTRP received a document memorializing a July 24 conversation between Vianello and district librarians, known in Florida as media specialists.

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[–] [email protected] 117 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (5 children)

So taking away those books is supposed to stop all kids from turning gay?
Why haven't all the thousands of straight character books turned gay kids straight?

Enough of this stupidity.

[–] [email protected] 99 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Nah. It's supposed to make all LGBTQ+ kids feel like they are alone and that something is wrong with them so they hide who they are and are easier for others to manipulate.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 11 months ago (1 children)

There's an even more sinister intention behind making queer children think they are alone and teaching them that they are fundamentally broken and that no one will ever accept them for who they are.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

What is the intention you're alluding to?

[–] [email protected] 27 points 11 months ago

Queer children who are unable to find acceptance often take their lives. This isn't some unknown fact either, it's an intended consequence of the transphobic hate movement.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago

If you find yourself googling art from YA fiction, you’ll soon realize that the straight characters have a better chance of turning the gay kids gayer.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago

I'd guess the district is practicing CYA given all the fucked up legislation Desantis is signing into law. School admins are notorious cowards.

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[–] [email protected] 91 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Is the goal to create places so inhospitable to open minds, that those who possess a shred of empathy flee, creating a conservative gravity well of votes? Is that even sustainable

[–] [email protected] 47 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I don't know whether to be appalled or hope that the gravity well becomes large enough it generates an event horizon that no stupidity could cross out of.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (3 children)

'Wish I could upvote a second time for great use of the term "event horizon"!

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

"We're leaving."

"No, we can't leave. Our orders are specific."

"Rescue the liberals, salvage what's left of Florida. The liberals are dead, doctor. Florida killed them."

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[–] [email protected] 29 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The goal is to create little Republicans.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I have a high school age kid in rural FL. If that is the intended effect, it's not working.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago

They haven't finished fucking with the educational system yet.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

That's half the goal.

The other half is to make areas so hostile that the people who can't flee just keep their heads down and stay closeted so no one hurts them.

And to increase suicides

[–] [email protected] 55 points 11 months ago

Florida the fascist state.

[–] [email protected] 48 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Don’t forget to throw out the Bible!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.

22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.

24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.

Uh oh! Ham and woke Noah better not be in any elementary schools teaching kids about drunk gay incestuous nudity.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Genesis 19:

4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. 5 They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”

There’s a whole town of gays in this book!

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[–] [email protected] 39 points 11 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (6 children)

Please support Foundation 451 and consider donating. It is a Florida teacher-led organization that has already provided thousands of banned books to Florida students and is opening up banned book libraries all over the state.

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Fascism. In 1935 the nazis were burning books. Nowadays they banish them from the public. Same ideology. Fascism always stays the same

[–] winterayars 6 points 10 months ago

The Nazis started with books about "sexual deviance", specifically they started with the Institut für Sexualwissenschaft. That's where that one famous picture of them comes from.

They started with gay and trans people, same as here.

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 11 months ago

The fact that they are not taking out books with heterosexual characters as well shows this is only about bigotry.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 11 months ago (4 children)

can somebody actually do something about the continually encroaching evil? i feel like you shouldn't be able to demand that

[–] [email protected] 17 points 11 months ago

Mass organisation would work. Protests and strikes. Not just from LGBT+ people, but from the population broadly. But that seems unlikely, sadly.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago

I keep thinking about the 1960s and the feds. Florida has to he breaking federal laws.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 10 months ago

Republicans are afraid that LGBTQ characters will humanize LGBTQ people and children might learn to empathize with them, which would reduce bigotry against them.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 11 months ago (3 children)

I'd take out all the books that have any characters that don't mention their sexuality and say that I'm protecting kids because Huck Finn could be gay.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Any character that isn't actively pursuing someone of the opposite gender is clearly asexual. There is absolutely no other possibility.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Even those in heterosexual relationships could be bi.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Huck did have quite the close relationship with Jim. Just sayin'.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

They'd probably be fine with that. Honestly, they probably wish they could just shut the whole place down; you'd be doing them a favor.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 11 months ago

This is about homophobia not being appropriate or not.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 11 months ago

Fuck censorship - posted for the kids of Charlotte County.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 11 months ago

When is DeSantis holding the book burning?

[–] [email protected] 22 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Damn. Republicans really are fascist. As if we didn't know already but God damn.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

"theocrats" would be more specific. fascist is a more generic term.

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[–] burntbutterbiscuits 21 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Jesus told me to love my brother 👀

[–] [email protected] 14 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Allegories aside, the Bible definitely has a few LGBTQ characters, even if they're not portrayed in a very positive light. I suppose that means they'll be banning the Bible from school libraries? Not to mention a fair amount of historical literature… including anything featuring Leonardo da Vinci, Florence Nightingale, King James (yes, that King James), William Shakespeare, King Richard I, or Julius Caesar.

It will be interesting to see whether this makes the history classes easier, for lack of material to cover, or harder, for lack of references.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 months ago

Florida has really turned into crap over the past few years. Politically, it wasn't great to begin with, but it has certainly gone south for a while now.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

So what happens to the books that get removed?

Trash? Donated to public libraries?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Something something Celsius 232.8

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[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

Wow purging lgbtq books in Florida while Ontario is purging any book written before 2008... can we all please stop purging books it never ends well!

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

It's alright people, we can pretend that portion of the population just simply doesn't exist and all will go back as it was in 1950.

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