The removal and restriction of ten library books within a Florida school district based on viewpoint is unconstitutional under the First and Fourteenth Amendments, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court.
Escambia County School District and the Escambia County School Board were named as defendants by a New York publisher and free speech organization in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida in Pensacola.
“Escambia County seeks to bar books critics view as too “woke,” the complaint states. “In the 1970s, schools sought to bar Slaughterhouse-Five and books edited by Langston Hughes. Tomorrow, it could be books about Christianity, the country’s founders, or war heroes.”
Plaintiffs include PEN America, Penguin Random House, two parents, and five authors.
“Some of the authors are people of color, and some of the authors are LGBTQ-plus and of the 10 books targeted, we know that many of them are about those identities,” said Shalini Goel Agarwal, an attorney with Protect Democracy Project.
Authors who are plaintiffs in the litigation are Sarah Brannen, George M. Johnson, David Levithan, Kyle Lukoff, and Ashely Hope Pérez. The ten books that are currently subject to restricted access, removal, and review without a review having been scheduled include Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, All Boys Aren’t Blue, Two Boys Kissing, When Aidan Became a Brother, Out of Darkness, and Too Bright to See.
“We are focused on these books because these were ones that the school review committees and the district review committees had approved for use in the school libraries, but the school board had overturned those decisions in each case,” Agarwal told the Florida Record.
Dr. Timothy Smith, superintendent of the Escambia County School District, did not respond to requests for comment.
An American Library Association (ALA) study found that there was a 38% increase in restricted or removed books from 2021 to 2022.
Some 2,571 books were the subject of complaints to the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom last year compared to just 1,858 books in 2021.
“What's at stake is whether or not our system of public education will continue to be a system that is effectively preparing kids to be citizens in a multiracial democracy,” Agarwal said. “Exposure to difference in a library is really important for kids to be able to understand difference as they grow up.”
Judge Kent Wetherell, nominated to the federal bench by U.S. Pres. Donald Trump is presiding over the case.
"We've seen this wave of book removals and restrictions in a lot of places in Florida and throughout the country," Agarwal added. "It is pretty alarming that this is still something we're talking about in 2023. We're hopeful that this case will help stem some of that tide of taking certain ideas out of school libraries that we're seeing."