Sexually Explicit Books in TVDSB Libraries
**WARNING: Obscene material in this article. Do not read with children present in the room!!**
Have you seen the viral videos featuring parents and their children voicing their concerns about pornographic books in school libraries? For example, here, here, and here. Many of these books have been rightfully criticized due to the obscene content and pornographic images in the books.
Sexually explicit books in school libraries aren't just found in faraway cities. They exist in schools in the Thames Valley District School Board(TVDSB) in London, Ontario, too.
All over North America, parents are asking for school boards to remove these books. The intention behind these demands is not to advocate for “burning books”, as some might suggest. Rather, it is about ensuring that minors do not have access to books with sexually explicit or pornographic content. It is against the law to sell pornographic magazines to minors; thus, allowing minors access to pornographic books in schools should also be prohibited. In Canada, we have laws restricting the distribution of obscene material to minors. Why do these laws not apply to the library books readily available in our children’s schools?
The call for the removal of these books is not centered around books aimed at the LGBT community. Rather, it is the inappropriate content within these books that is a cause for concern. The goal is to ensure that children, regardless of their sexual orientation, are exposed to age-appropriate material that aligns with their educational needs. What is the educational value of these books and is there no other material available that could adequately replace them? Many parents of LGBT children, as well as members of the LGBT community, agree that these books do not belong in school libraries.
"The Gay Rights Movement was founded to advance equality, treat people with dignity and respect and denounce and reject wrongful stereotypes, caricatures and stigmas," said Hagerty, who added that books like Dawson’s, with its "explicit sexual language, graphic imagery, and dangerous scenarios," don’t represent the majority of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people.
"The people who equate my community to these books, and saying they should be for children, are reattaching the erroneous stereotypes and caricatures and stigmas the Gay Rights Movement fought to get away from," said Hagerty, to enthusiastic applause from the assembled audience.
"I don't care if the literature is straight, gay or cartoon," Hagerty added, "sexual material that illustrates how to perform sexual acts promote dangerous apps, and advocate irresponsible behavior is not a book that public schools should be putting into the hands of children."
Mr. Hagerty is referencing “This Book is Gay” which is available at TVDSB schools.
The TVDSB director, senior administration, and the trustees have all been notified of these books. Parents in the community requested the removal of these books over a year ago but the board has chosen to keep them available to your kids.
It’s time parents demand that educational materials in our schools are age-appropriate and free from sexually explicit content. That's a reasonable demand.
TVDSB should establish a review committee to expeditiously evaluate books flagged as unsuitable by parents. This committee must be impartial and free from ideological influences, with representation from community parents. At a minimum, a system should be established to assess and remove books that parents regard as indecent or unsuitable for minors.
Some of the obscene books in our children’s libraries include the following:
(WARNING: SEXUALLY EXPLICIT CONTENT AHEAD)
UPDATE: July 1, 2023: We have received confirmation that this book has been removed from TVDSB libraries.
Note: these are just four of the obscene books in our children’s school libraries. There are many other inappropriate books in TVDSB libraries. Check to see which books are in your child’s school here.
You can do your own search for books in TVDSB libraries here.
What can parents do?
1. Get in touch with your school principal and ask to have these books taken out of circulation. Request to have the book lists for your child’s classes provided to you for examination.
2. Contact your trustee and ask them why they haven’t yet asked the schools to remove these books. Ask them to advocate for a book review committee so that future book concerns can be swiftly addressed. This committee should include parents from the community.
3. Contact your Superintendent and the Director of Education and ask them why they have not removed the books. Let them know that you don’t approve of these books.
4. Contact Minister Lecce and ask him why he is allowing these books to remain in schools across Ontario. Let him know you do not approve of these books.
5. Contact your Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) and request they introduce a bill that will bring transparency back to the school system, similar to this one in Iowa:
Iowa House resurrects school ‘transparency’ bill for curriculum, books
Under the new legislation, school districts would create policies to allow parents to view textbooks and other “core” materials, syllabi and an explanation of how the classes comply with state educational requirements. Districts are allowed to produce the materials electronically.
Districts would also be required to establish a process by which materials might be withheld from a student if a parent or guardian objects.
Each district would also be required to give parents access to an electronic catalog of books in their libraries and provide a form online that parents can use to request a book’s removal.
While education is a provincial matter, a local Member of Parliament, Elgin-Middlesex-London MP Karen Vecchio, recently tabled a bill to protect children from pornographic material online. Perhaps Ms. Vecchio would be interested to know the kind of material available in the classrooms in her riding. Contact her and ask if she is aware of these books and if she thinks they should be removed from the hands of children.
Vecchio, Shadow Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth, says one of the goals is to deter organizations that make this material available on the Internet from allowing young persons to access it.
MP Vecchio has stated: “This is a very important Bill to ensure that pornography is not easily accessible to children, we know there is a strong correlation between intimate partner violence and pornography. We do not want children to think that what they see on the Internet is real life”.
CPAL acknowledges the work done by ExposingSOGI123 and Action4Canada for uncovering this inappropriate material. Visit those sites to learn more about these books and the SOGI agenda.
This is terrible and contradicts the good morals of every rational and normal human being... Educational institutions cannot include these curricula that lead to social dissolution, and therefore what future do we hope for from future generations if this is what they learn... Where are you going?