There has been plenty of confusion and dishonesty about “banned” books in Florida, with the left rejecting efforts by the DeSantis administration to ensure school children are not being subjected to woke ideology and/or gay porn while in class.
Of course, the left’s real target is Gov. Ron DeSantis, who brazenly declared, “Florida is where woke goes to die.”
On that note, drag star RuPaul is involved in an effort to bring banned books to Florida via the Rainbow Book Bus — one of the most sexually graphic books pushed by the left is titled Gender Queer.
The famous drag queen “has joined forces with a newly revamped online bookstore with a RuPaul-chosen Book of the Month, and is helping send his partners’ Rainbow Book Bus to different locations — including Tallahassee — to distribute banned books,” the Tallahassee Democrat reported.
More from the liberal newspaper:
“It will be an incursion into enemy territory. Florida had more books banned or removed from school and library shelves than any other state in the 2022-23 school year, according to a report from nonprofit literacy organization PEN America. Florida legislators also passed a law effectively banning drag shows (without ever using the term) last year before a federal district court temporarily blocked it on First Amendment grounds and the U.S. Supreme Court voted against an application from the state.
Fortuitously for RuPaul, who is creative director at the online bookstore Allstora, the added attention he garners here comes as he hawks his new memoir, The House of Hidden Meanings, which just happens to be the first selection for his monthly book club at Allstora.
Interestingly, National Review noted that RuPaul’s “all-inclusive” online bookstore is supposed to “carry all books,” ranging from Gender Queer to Mein Kampf, to “support all voices everywhere,” before pointing out that “just days after launching the website, the bookstore reversed its policy on ‘offensive’ books and removed some content perceived as right-wing.”
Works by Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Matt Walsh, Riley Gaines, and Libs of TikTok founder Chaya Raichik were among the removed content named, according to National Review.
The Parental Rights in Education Law pushed by DeSantis created “a system in which anyone could challenge a book inside any public school for almost any reason,” NBC Miami reported. Once challenged, the book would have to be pulled from the shelves for evaluation by the school district. A determination would then be made to either allow the book or remove it permanently.
Democrats fought the law, which they dishonestly dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law because it prohibits classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity, so it’s not out of the question that some may opt to game the system.
Gov. DeSantis has called the left’s book ban narrative a “hoax.”
“Exposing the ‘book ban’ hoax is important because it reveals that some are attempting to use our schools for indoctrination,” he said last year. “In Florida, pornographic and inappropriate materials that have been snuck into our classrooms and libraries to sexualize our students violate our state education standards. Florida is the education state and that means providing students with a quality education free from sexualization and harmful materials that are not age appropriate.”
The governor’s office said that “of the 175 books removed across the state, 164 (94%) were removed from media centers, and 153 (87%) were identified as pornographic, violent, or inappropriate for their grade level.”
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
Comment
We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.