Parents displayed posters of school board members bearing the caption, “Resign FairfaXXXX”
FALLS CHURCH (VA) – Parents protested the Fairfax County School Board meeting Thursday. They were angry at what they call pedophilia, and “porn school” after Fairfax County Public Schools had reintroduced two books that depicted sexual activity.
They’ve increased porn in schools by two-fold. They all have to go,” Stacy Langton (Fairfax County mother) told Fox News that she confronted the school board in September with images taken from the books. “Who is in favor of porn at schools?”
Parents protested in front of Luther Jackson Middle School. They wore signs that read, “No pornin’ in our schools,” and wore t-shirts that read, “Mama Grizzly”, and held signs with photos of school board members and the text, Resign FairfaXXX.
Thursday’s school board meeting marks the first since FCPS brought back the controversial books. Jonathan Evison’s “Lawn Boy,” contains long sections that feature a boy recalling explicit experiences at age 10. Maia Kobabe’s “Gender Queer” includes photos of sexual acts between boys and men.
Fairfax County Public Schools declared it had returned the books to libraries following two committees made up of parents, librarians, and administrators. They claimed that the books were not inappropriate and did not contain pedophilia.
Angela Boyer, Angela’s daughter, said outside of the meeting that she was there because they don’t want porn in schools. “They are tired of trying to label it and make it look like it’s something it’s not. Stop making up semantic meaningless words. It’s absurd and offensive.”
Justin, a father of two said that he is a Fairfax County parent and it doesn’t matter whether it’s gay sex or straight sex. “We don’t have to pay tax dollars for sexual literature.”
Maria Sherwell, mother to two children in FCPS schools, said that the school board was failing her children.
She said that “the attendance is down,” the grades are down and that children are being subjected sexual surveys that are totally out of line.” She was referring to an FCPS survey asking students about their sex lives. She was furious that porn is allowed at school, even for middle-schoolers.
Julie Perry, a history teacher at Fairfax County’s public school, ran this year for a seat on the House of Delegates. She told Fox News she was afraid of being excluded and that it would lead to her being expelled. She said she was “terrified” for being a Republican at the school she used to work. She said that she felt compelled protest.
“Child pornography is so dangerous for a child’s mind,” Perry said. “Their frontal lobes aren’t developed yet, so what they see sticks in their minds.”
Some parents and students spoke out in support of the books during the school board meeting. They argued that the books provide representation for LGBTQ students. Others said that this doesn’t justify “porn” in schools.
Langton brought up two other books when she spoke: “All Boys Aren’t Blue”, by George M. Johnson, and “Decelerate Blue”, by Adam Rapp. She stated that the first book contains a description of a 13 year-old boy being sexually abused by his cousin, while the second book contains sex acts and obscene photos.
Langton claimed that such books violate the FCC’s obscenity regulations, so media outlets can’t carry them. However, FCPS allows them to be in libraries.
“How can these materials that cannot be shown to America magically become legal when they are accessed in a school library?” She asked.
Chris Henzel, father of three children, stated that the committees reviewing Lawn Boy or Gender Queer were made up of teachers and administrators who work for school boards and could be relied upon to provide the answers they needed.
“You’re not fooling anyone with your insider committees,” he said.
Asra Nomani is a mother and vice-president at Parents Defending Education. She told Fox News that Glenn Youngkin won the Virginia governor’s race because of the actions taken by the school board.
Nomani stated that Glenn Youngkin was elected by these twelve Democrats because of the way they treated her. She added, however, that “the parents tonight show that we aren’t an overnight political operation.” We will be here for the long haul. Because we are fierce, parents are sporting ‘Momma Grizzly” t-shirts.
