School board candidate tries to get district hit with obscenity charge for LGBTQ books

A candidate for school board in West Des Moines, Iowa was part of a group that tried to bring criminal charges against the local school district for having a pair of LGBTQ books, reported The Daily Beast on Friday.

According to emails that were originally obtained by The Des Moines Register, candidate Teri Patrick was one of four signatories on a letter sent to then-Polk County prosecutor Joseph Sarcone, demanding charges against the school district for making "Gender Queer: A Memoir" by Maia Kobabe and "All Boys Aren’t Blue" by George M. Johnson available in libraries.

“The written descriptions and images in these books are blatant and meet the definitions in Iowa Code 728.1 [obscenity laws], such that immediate action should be taken," the letter read.

"On a continuous basis, the District is disseminating pornography to our children. Since the District perceives that it is not accountable to the parents and families it is meant to serve, our expectation is that your office will hold the School District accountable for complying with the laws of our state.”

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According to the report, the matter was then referred to a committee, which found the two books were “properly selected” and were “autobiographical with literary merit, not pornographic.” Patrick appealed that decision to the school board, but was denied.

The letter was sent amid a nationwide moral panic about racial and LGBTQ content in books at school libraries, much of it driven by far-right activists like members of Moms for Liberty, who have challenged hundreds of books around the country, even a picture book of seahorses they decided was too "sexy" for kids. Moms for Liberty is known for working hand in hand with the Proud Boys to push its agenda.

The battle has also been moving outside of school libraries to general public libraries, and even to private booksellers, with one Republican delegate in Virginia suing Barnes & Noble to try to force it to require parental consent to purchase "Gender Queer."