As an author, reader, parent, and candidate for Chesapeake Public School Board in 2022, I’ve been gearing up for the fight against censorship and book banning for a few months now. Ever since the 2021 election where the specter of “CRT” helped give Virginia’s Governorship to Glenn Youngkin, the fight has been simmering hotter and hotter.
Just last week, Virginia Beach School Board voted to ban Gender Queer due to “pornographic content”. Today, Virginia Beach attorney and State Delegate Tim Anderson announced on his Facebook page that they had scored a victory in court and his client (Tommy Altman, one of the four congressional candidates vying to face Elaine Luria in Virginia’s 2nd congressional district) would be pursuing restraining orders against not only schools, but Barnes & Noble as well.
To quote Delegate Anderson, “Today, the Virginia Beach Circuit Court has found probable cause that the books Gender Queer and a Court of Mist and Fury are obscene to unrestricted viewing by minors.
My client, Tommy Altman, has now directed my office to seek a restraining order against Barnes and Noble and Virginia Beach Schools to enjoin them from selling or loaning these books to minors without parent consent.”
Well, it didn’t take very long for them to pivot from “these books shouldn’t be in schools” to “private booksellers shouldn’t be able to sell these books either”, now did it? No word on whether or not they will be targeting independent or smaller booksellers at this time. Maybe they’re scared of Amazon or they’d go after them too.
All I can say is this: this fight is far from over and isn’t going away any time soon. Right now we need people all across the country to prepare to fight, through activism, running for local offices, or helping those who are running be in a position to stop these efforts to ban books and erase LGBTQIA+ and other marginalized peoples’ stories from our book shelves.
I’m running for Chesapeake Public School Board, just next door to our sister city of Virginia Beach where Delegate Anderson is making this push. Here is a link to my ActBlue if you’d like to pitch in to help keep this from spilling over the border into my city.
Or, if you want some cool swag that shows that you are against banning books, we have merchandise available using this awesome design donated to my campaign from a local comic book artist. Available in my ActBlue as a campaign donation gift or through RedBubble (all proceeds go to my campaign). Thanks and keep up the fight!