On Nov. 18, the Lucia Mar Unified School District opened its doors to the public to discuss the banning of two books from the AGHS library: Gender Queer: a Memoir and Push. Both books depict themes of sexuality and both have gender queer characters.
The discussion was sparked when certain individuals found issues with the content within the two books. They are challenging a decision that was made by a committee of seven: the district librarian, a high school librarian technician, a member of the high school teaching staff, a member of the district staff, two parents from the high school’s school site council, and one high school student.
The issue that the opposers of the book presented were depictions of graphic, sexual images and descriptive sexual violence. Opposers believe that parents, above all else, should have the right to dictate what their children read and if parents don’t want certain books available to their children , they should go.
“It’s about whether the parents and the elected that are in the public education system have a responsibility and right to protect the minds, emotions, and innocence of our children,” speaker Gary Adams said.
The supporters of keeping the books in the AGHS library argued that they represent important emotional themes that are not depicted enough within our society and emphasized the benefits the books can bring.
“If one student reads Push and gains the courage to report their own abuse [or] one student reads Gender Queer and gains the courage to confront his or her sexual identity issues openly, having [these] book[s] in the library is worth it,” one speaker in support of the books said.
Throughout the course of the night, different people presented many arguments. Some were doctors who saw the science and value of the books; some recounted stories of family members and what they could gain from the books; some were concerned community members who believed in the removal of the books; and others attended to share religious views on the morals of the books.
After nearly two hours of public speaking, with constant, unallowed extensions to speaking time and disturbances causing hiccups– leading to an additional extension of the meeting time from the board– a final speech was given and voting on the removal of the books occurred.
Both books will remain in the library by a 4-3 vote, those in favor include: Board President Coleen Martin, Vice President Don Stewart, Clerk Donna Kandel, and Trustee Dee Santos.
While Martin and Stewart made no comment on why they voted to keep the books in the AGHS library, Kandel and Santos did.
“I see no evidence that the panel acted improperly, therefore, I believe that we have to uphold the panel’s decision,” Kandel said.
Santos’s comment was from a personal perspective.
“Just because one person believes this way and one person believes that way, that’s their choice,” Santos said.
The three who stood in opposition of the books were Andrea Naemi-Vergne, Mike Fuller, and Eilene Pham. All three spoke their opinion.
“To provide children with this topic: it’s disheartening that we have to kill their innocence,” Pham.
Vergne recognized a deeper meaning behind the meeting and the reality of why meetings like this consistently happen. More specifically, ex-mayoral candidate Gaya Powell entered the school library without permission and picked out books that she wanted to be banned.
“We need to take a look at how this happened,” Vergne said. “[Gaya Powell] doesn’t have any kids, so what made her [enter the library]?”
Fuller gave the longest speech, ultimately claiming the issue isn’t about book banning and people need to think logistically.
“One book nobody’s ever checked out,” Fuller said. “Nobody would bat an eye if we got rid of some book about flowers nobody ever checked out. What’s the difference?”
This result came as a relief to Virginia Roof, lecturer at Cuesta for early childhood development and parent of three students.
“It’s really frustrating as a parent. I have three children who go to this school,” Roof said. “You could hear Mike Fuller saying, ‘We need parents to speak up.’”
Roof felt that this comment was redundant and a poor representation of the matter at hand.
“I’m a parent; there are parents,” Roof said.
Roof believes that the decision on books should be between parent and child, not parents and school. She believes in giving students the opportunity to read all books and allowing household conversations to determine appropriateness as opposed to board meetings.
“[It should be] a conversion between both parents and their children,” Roof said. “Not outside community members.”
Both books will remain in the AGHS library and students will maintain the ability and full freedom to check out, read, and engage with different literature.
