Angry parents once again gathered outside a Fairfax County School Board meeting Thursday to voice opposition to the reinstatement of two books by Fairfax County Public Schools containing what they say is pedophilia, “porn,” and depictions of inappropriate sexual activities.
“They’ve doubled down on porn in the schools. They’ve all got to go,” said Stacy Langton, the Fairfax County mother who showed the school board images from the books in September, in an interview with Fox News.
“Who’s in favor of porn in the schools?” she asked.
Fox News reported that parents assembled outside of Luther Jackson Middle School with some holding signs that said, “No porn in our schools” and t-shirts emblazoned with “Mama Grizzly” and “Papa Grizzly.” Others held signs that featured school board members and the text, “Resign FairfaXXX.”
The Thursday school board meeting is the first since FCPS reinstalled the controversial books: “Lawn Boy” by Jonathan Evison, which features lengthy segments of a boy thinking about explicit experiences when he was 10; and “Gender Queer: A Memoir,” by Maia Kobabe, which includes photos of sex acts between a man and a boy.
The school district announced earlier this week that it had restored the books to the libraries after two committees consisting of librarians, administrators, parents and students examined them. The committees deemed the books not to be obscene or that they contained pedophilia.
“We’re here because we don’t want any porn in the schools,” said Angela Boyer, who has a daughter who graduated from a school in Fairfax County, in an interview with Fox News outside of the board meeting.
“We’re sick of them trying to put labels on it and call it what it isn’t. Stop playing word semantic games. It’s ridiculous and insulting,” she added.
“As a parent of kids that go to Fairfax County schools, it doesn’t matter if it’s ‘Lawn Boy,’ gay sex, straight sex, it shouldn’t be in schools,” said a father of two named Justin. “We don’t need to be paying tax dollars for sexual books.”
“The school board is failing our children,” added mother of two Maria Sherwell, both of whom attend a FCPS.
“The attendance is down, the grades are down, children are being subjected to sexual surveys that are completely out of line,” she added, referring to a recent official school district survey that questioned students about their sex lives.
She went on to complain “that porn is allowed in school, even for middle schoolers.”
Fox News went on to report that Julie Perry, a history teacher at one of the district’s schools and who ran last year for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates as a Republican, said she was at risk of being criticized and worse for speaking up. She also said she “was terrorized for being a Republican” at a school where she used to work, but she nevertheless believes it is important to protest the books.
“Child pornography is so dangerous for a child’s mind,” Perry said. “Their frontal lobes aren’t developed yet, so what they see sticks in their minds.”
Fox News said that during the school board meeting, some parents and students spoke up in favor of the books, saying that they are important for LGBTQ students. But other parents argued that did not justify “porn” in schools.
Jon has over 30 years' worth of reporting experience, as well as an author and U.S. Army veteran. He has a BA in political science from Ashford University and an MA in national security studies/intelligence analysis from American Military University.
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