Florida county unbans dozens of LGBT books from school libraries

A Florida school district agreed this week to return 36 books to school libraries that had been removed because of LGBT content that was deemed obscene by state officials.

The settlement was announced by the law firm representing Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson, authors of the children's book, “And Tango Makes Three.“ In addition, the firm (Selendy Gay) explained that it also represents some parents in Nassau County, Florida.

"These 35 books include significant works by Toni Morrison, Jonathan Safran Foer, Alice Sebold, Jodi Picoult and Erika Sanchez, which address racism in America, as well as the life experiences of immigrants, first-generation Americans, trans Americans and other underrepresented communities and individuals," Selendy Gay said in a statement.

In addition, the firm's attorney, Lauren Zimmerman, argued that the action taken by state officials, in her view, was censorship. She insisted that the books represent a wide variety of ideas and viewpoints.

"This settlement—a watershed moment in the ongoing battle against book censorship in the United States—significantly restores access to important works that were unlawfully removed from the shelves of Nassau County, Florida’s public school libraries," Zimmerman said.

Despite the plaintiffs' accusations that state officials censor books, just this Friday, Florida was crowned for the third consecutive year as the state with the most educational freedom in the country. According to the annual study conducted by the Heritage Foundation, The Sunshine State once again topped the Educational Freedom Report. In turn, Louisiana was the state that climbed the most positions from 2023.