The new president of one of Pennsylvaniaâs largest school districts was sworn into office with her hand on sexually-explicit LGBT propaganda and âbannedâ books.
Democrat Karen Smith took up her new position Monday night as the head of the Central Bucks School District and immediately moved to undo Republican-led, pro-parent, and pro-family policies. For the swearing-in ceremony, Smith chose to place her hand not on a Bible but on a stack of frequently banned books, including âFlamer,â âAll Boys Arenât Blue,â Beyond Magenta,â âLily and Dunkin,â and âThe Bluest Eye.â
âIâm not particularly religious,â Smith explained. âThe Bible doesnât hold significant meaning for me, and given everything that has occurred in the last couple of years, the banned books, they do mean something to me at this point.â
Both âFlamerâ and âAll Boys Arenât Blueâ feature explicit depictions of homosexual activity, with the graphic novel âFlamerâ including illustrations of nude teenage boys showering and masturbating. âFlamerâ is centered on an overweight teenage boy who identifies as homosexual navigating puberty during a Boy Scouts summer camp, while âAll Boys Arenât Blueâ is about a young black man who identifies as homosexual growing up in New Jersey and Virginia.
âBeyond Magentaâ is built around a series of interviews with teenagers who identify as transgender. âLily and Dunkinâ tells the story of âLily Jo,â born as Timothy, an eighth-grade biological boy who identifies as a girl. âThe Bluest Eyeâ by Toni Morrison features a passage in which a 9-year-old girl is raped and impregnated by her father, prompting a number of schools and libraries across the nation to bar the books from being accessed by children.
In fact, all of the books Smith used for her swearing-in ceremony (with the exception of Elie Wieselâs testimonial Holocaust novel âNightâ) have been subjects of recent controversy and many have been banned from classrooms or libraries for their sexually-explicit and ideologically-charged content.
Meg Kilgannon, senior fellow for education studies at Family Research Council, commented to The Washington Stand, âPeople and political forces who would use children to advance their evil ideologies may have momentary successes or seem to win the day, but in the end we know that God wins.â
She continued, âThe effort to reform American education is going to require the same kind of âlong marchâ through the institutions that got us here in the first place. We will have victories and setbacks, but the most important requirement is that we not give up. There are childrenâs souls and futures on the line, along with our nation.â
Under Republican leadership, the Central Bucks school board had successfully banned the controversial books âGender Queerâ and âThis Book Is Gayâ and about 60 other booksâincluding many of those Smith brought to her swearing-in ceremonyâwere being reviewed for removal from classrooms and school libraries.
The Republican board also previously blocked teachers from displaying politically- or sexually-charged imagery, such as rainbow Pride flags, in classrooms and mandated parental notification policies, requiring teachers to inform parents of studentsâ social gender transition attempts or requests. Additionally, Republicans on the board approved a policy barring biological boys identifying as transgender from competing in girls sports.
Voters flipped the boardâs political makeup last month, handing Democrats a 6-3 majority. Led by Smith, Democrats instantly began undoing pro-parent policies.
First, the new board suspended the ban on sexually explicit books. Although âGender Queerâ and âThis Book Is Gayâ were already removed, Smith said that the other 60 books or so flagged for sexually explicit content are âdefinitely not going to be reviewed at this point.â
Next, the new board undid the policies barring biological boys from participating in girls sports and forbidding teachers from flying LGBT Pride flags in classrooms.
Originally published by The Washington Stand
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