I missed a call from a former high school English teacher of mine two weeks ago. I had only caught glimpses of the transcribed voicemail she left: “pulling some of the books at your old high school … Join the meeting Monday … Call me back.”
Lehighton Area School District’s board was entertaining a book audit, brought to the table by the newly appointed Board Treasurer Sean Gleaves, a member of the far-right Moms for Liberty group (it’s not just for moms). I read the local newspaper’s article over and over. I tried to be shocked, tried to shake my head in disbelief, but nothing came of it. I knew, deep down, it was going to happen.
Thirty-three books are on the list for this audit, which will determine whether parental consent to check them out will be required. Just a fraction of the library’s total inventory. But the reason why they were selected is what’s concerning. The titles include LGBTQ Families: The Ultimate Teen Guide, The Stonewall Riots: The Fight for LGBT Rights, Transgender Rights and Issues, and White Privilege. At the board meeting on August 26, the leader of the audit, Gleaves, began his defense by saying he was concerned about exposing innocent high schoolers to nudity and graphic sexual images. Understandable? Sure. Are there any innocent high schoolers? Probably, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt. As public comment went on and the tension began to thicken in the room, this is when Gleaves’ bandage began to peel; I could see it in his flushed cheeks. Eventually, he ripped the bandage off a wound we all knew he was trying so desperately to conceal, while the otherwise silent school board let it happen.
“About 20 years ago, none of these problems existed. We didn’t have children cutting off their genitals and changing genders. They are being manipulated to cut off their genitals. That is a real thing that is happening. I don’t think it’s a good thing for people to do.”
Wow.
In this quote that left me speechless, the rest of this piece is my response to you Mr. Gleaves.
Why did you choose to run for school board? (He was elected in 2023 after running unopposed.) If the answer is anything other than to support and celebrate the children in our district, you shouldn’t have run in the first place.
My own life experience informs my opposition to this censorship. I knew I was not a straight woman early on; yet I found myself “choosing” a boy in my grade every year that I was going to have a crush on. It wasn’t until high school where I felt seen and understood, and even so, I still didn’t come out until college. It was within books and literature where I found people like me. Teachers at Lehighton saw this love for literature, for people other than those who lived in my town, and encouraged my exploration. I read James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, and Oscar Wilde. Each word I read opened my mind to my potential as a student and human being. But those feelings were something I kept to myself. It was personal and private.
By requiring certain books to need parental consent, you are stripping these children’s right of privacy away because what you deem is “inappropriate” to one may be the key to a happy life for another.
While I could use this article to bully you and make you feel the pain I felt at that meeting, I won’t do that. Where I could be disproving your opinions and citing my sources, I won’t. Instead, I ask you to look at this book audit on a broader scale, something I asked in my speech but you may have overlooked, so let’s revisit.
Without the literature and the support I was given in school, I would not be writing this article. In fact, I would not be writing at all, or living, for that matter. I am a success story in this sense. Others like me, who grew up in areas where book audits like this were encouraged, where local governments pressed their biased, dangerous views onto constituents, where homes were not filled with acceptance, are not success stories. For them I will fight tooth and nail to disband this book audit. In the words of librarian Tracie D. Hall, “free people read freely.”
So, I leave you with this, Mr. Gleaves. If you wish to lead a school district with an unwelcoming and hateful hand, are you willing to have the lives of those shunned haunt you? Are you willing to outcast hundreds of children who want to be loved and respected just so you can uphold your political beliefs? T
Think about those questions and then think about changing your position, or resigning.
Please sign our petition: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfvPeMXgoCAD9tTpHQavPucImWB87qbrZbv9NoldEeIzHPAJQ/viewform?usp=sf_link
