Jae Moore

/ /

LGBTQ-Affirming Kids Books to Rewrite Messages from the Playground

The fight to offer diverse children’s books in public schools will go national this month when the Supreme Court issues a ruling on Mahmoud v. Taylor. The case surrounds three couples who objected to a small number of LGBTQ-inclusive children’s books offered as nonmandatory supplemental learning materials in Montgomery County Public Schools, in Maryland. Because the district did not offer an opt out clause to prevent access to their children, they claimed infringement on their religious rights. “What’s at stake in Mahmoud v. Taylor isn’t just access to books—it’s whether LGBTQ kids get to see themselves reflected in the world around them,” author […]

/ /

Federal Agency, Former Champion for Intellectual Freedom, Parrots Book Ban Misinformation

,

Living up to President Trump’s campaign promise to upend education, the endangered U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced last week the dismissal of 11 complaints and six pending cases filed against school book bans as “meritless claim[s] premised upon a dubious legal theory.” Additionally, OCR fired book ban coordinator Matt Nosanchuk and eliminated the Biden Administration-created role. Nosanchuk was hired in 2023 to address intellectual freedom violations in schools and federally-funded institutions. In a press release calling book bans a “hoax,” OCR noted that in reviewing pending cases, attorneys alleged that no book bans had taken place. Rather, “school districts, in consultation with parents […]

/ /

Voters Send Powerful Message to Anti-Trans, Moms for Liberty-aligned Candidates

,

In multiple states this election year, voters signaled an overall shift away from “parents’ rights” issues, fear mongering, and partisan politics, including the rejection of anti-trans candidate for North Carolina governor Mark Robinson as well as other state and local educational posts. North Carolina voters also rejected Moms for Liberty-endorsed Superintendent of Public Instruction candidate Michele Morrow, whose campaign and record was nearly equally as disturbing as Robinson’s Morrow’s anti-LGBTQ record included a defamatory rant against opponent Mo Green, who received the endorsement of state LGBTQ organization Equality North Carolina. Morrow falsely and dangerously misrepresented the plus symbol in LGBTQ+ in a post on Twitter/X: “NEWSFLASH…the ‘+’ includes PEDOPH*L*A!!” The […]

/ /

Voting for Equality: LGBTQ-Related Proposals on the Ballot This Year

,

The 2024 election is consequential for LGBTQ people and our equality. LGBTQ voters are poised again to be the decisive edge in close-contest states in the presidential race as well as the elections that will determine the balance of power in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives. But it’s not just about choosing candidates. Here are issues and proposals up for a vote that will have an impact on the LGBTQ community, including in the battleground states and states that have passed legislation targeting LGBTQ people. Reproductive Health Care According to the results of a GLAAD and Pathfinder poll released earlier this […]

/ /

Deeply Unpopular Book Bans are a Losing Ticket in the 2024 Election

,

The results of a new survey published by Knight Foundation in partnership with Langer Research Associates shows that book bans, and the people who promote them, are losing support. The recent primary election results in Florida, home base for book-banning Moms for Liberty, show even more rejection at the ballot box. First, the survey: Of more than 4,500 adults sampled, two thirds oppose book bans in public schools, and 78% trust school staff to stock shelves with “appropriate” titles. And although 60% of respondents view “appropriateness” as a reason to place restrictions on book access, Book Riot’s Kelly Jensen notes, “‘appropriateness’ here is not about topics […]