Moms for Liberty read ‘porn’ hoping to ban books in Florida

South Florida Sun Sentinel | By Scott Travis and Leslie Postal | September 20, 2023

Moms for Liberty, the conservative group founded in Florida and now a force in national politics, tried this week to get books pulled from school libraries by reading aloud at school board meetings passages they said amounted to “porn.”

The group’s Seminole chapter, following a playbook used successfully in recent weeks in Indian River and Pinellas counties, urged supporters to read “potty” words and the “worst of the worst,” with the hope they’d get cut off by the School Board. They weren’t.

In Broward, the chapter chairwoman of Moms for Liberty was among five speakers who read explicit passages at a Broward School Board meeting Tuesday and did get cut off by the chairwoman — because the readings were unrelated to the topic being discussed at the meeting.

A new state law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis in May heightens scrutiny of school books and says if school boards prevent parents from reading aloud books that have been objected to, those books must be removed from the shelves.

“Just make sure that you get shut down, that’s the goal,” Jessica Tillmann, the group’s Seminole chapter chair posted on Instagram Monday.

The Seminole County School Board on Tuesday night, however, listened without interruption as Moms for Liberty members and supporters read short book excerpts, in almost all cases without naming the book or the author.

The comments in Seminole came during a period where public speakers were allowed to talk on any topic. Broward held a special meeting Tuesday where all speakers were instructed to speak only to items on the agenda.

Several Broward speakers first said they were speaking on a decision to give employees represented by the Broward Teachers Union and other labor groups bonuses funded by a 2022 voter-approved referendum. But they abruptly pivoted to reading passages of books they found objectionable.

“I think the money needs to be allocated to areas in need like more campus security,” Sabrina Artiles, chairwoman of the Moms for Liberty Broward chapter, said during public comments Tuesday. “We can also provide proper training for librarians, teachers and staff on what material is allowed according to state statutes. For example, ‘A Court of Mist and Fury’ is in five high schools.”

She then started reading sexually explicit passages from the Sarah Maas novel before being interrupted by School Board Chairwoman Lori Alhadeff.

“Excuse me, hold on. Stop a second. Please speak to the agenda item,” Alhadeff told Artiles.

“I am,” Artiles responded.

“No, you’re not. This is your warning,” Alhadeff told her.

After Artiles continued reading from the book, Alhadeff said, “Please remove from the microphone. Inappropriate.”

At that point Brenda Fam, a socially conservative board member who has championed parents’ rights to challenge books, told Alhadeff, “I’d like a copy of the name of that book, just to see where she was reading from and attach that to the record. I’d like to know if it’s in any of our libraries, because I’m glad you declared it inappropriate.”

Several other speakers started reading passages from other books, including “Forever” by Judy Blume and “Milk and Honey” by Rupi Kaur. Alhadeff cut off all of them.

Alhadeff told the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Wednesday she stopped the speakers only because they were off topic, not because the readings were inappropriate for any meeting.

“I would allow it if it’s within the topic of the item or during a (non-agenda) public comment, as long as it adheres to School Board policy,” she said, citing a policy that asks speakers to “refrain from obscene or vulgar conduct, slanderous remarks, or statements that tend to incite violence or the breach of the peace.”

The new state law (HB 1069) makes challenges to school books easier and, if the concern is sexual content, requires the books to be removed from the shelves within five days and remain inaccessible to students while being reviewed.

It also says that if books cannot be read aloud at board meetings, “the school district shall discontinue the use of the material.”

John Sullivan, spokesman for Broward schools, said for the law to apply, the speaker would have to file a formal objection to the book and the comment would have to be made when the topic is discussed or during non-agenda speakers.

The Broward School Board holds monthly regular meetings where time is set aside for the public to speak to items not on the agenda. The School Board has also had several workshops on the topic of school library materials.

At the Seminole meeting, the majority of those who packed into the board’s room for a more than four-hour meeting urged board members not to ban books nor give into the “theater” of the read-aloud.

Making the counterpoint

Stop Moms for Liberty Seminole and Defense of Democracy Seminole helped organize a counter-point and were joined by statewide groups and residents from Polk, Sarasota and Volusia counties.

They waved red sheets of paper to show their opposition to speakers and green to show their approval, including for Rain Johnson of Lakeland, who held and read briefly from a copy of “The Handmaid’s Tale” to show her opposition to book bans.

They said a loud minority should not be able to dictate what other people’s children can choose to read.

They also questioned how the board could act if the books were unnamed and said out-of-context passages should not be considered when deciding whether books meet the legal definition of pornography.

“A book is far more than an isolated passage or two,” said one.

“For the sake of the children, please don’t give into this theater,” said another.

“Some bad actors are here to disrupt the meeting with requests to ban books from public school classrooms, reading lists, and media centers,” said Oviedo resident Franklin Perez.

All students deserve to read a variety of books, Perez said, and the board should trust teachers and media specialists to pick appropriate titles for their libraries.

In Seminole County, the school board took no action after listening to about 80 speakers.

“There is no action to be taken from the reading of excerpts as they were allowed to make their public comments without interruption,” said school district spokeswoman Katherine Crnkovich, in an email Wednesday. “We would encourage any individual or group with concerns about a book or curriculum to follow the process in place to address their concern.

Seminole School board members said the district would follow state law and its policies to address any concerns about books and other instructional materials.

Republican lawmakers said the new law was passed to make sure pornography and books that depict sexual activity are kept from children.

But critics say the effort has wrongly labeled many books pornographic, when state law says, in part, that books with sexual content or nudity are considered pornography only if they are “without serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.”

They also say the law is being used to do end runs around district policies for book challenges, which typically start at the school and require reviews by educators and parents.

In Indian River at a meeting in late August, the school board’s chair stopped many speakers from reading aloud explicit passages and then the board voted to remove at least 20 books from its libraries.

This month, that district said more than 120 books are under review after challenges by the local Moms for Liberty group, Treasure Coast Newspapers reported.

And this week, the Pinellas County school district said it would remove five books, some of which were read aloud at an earlier meeting in August, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

200 at the meeting

At Seminole’s Tuesday night meeting, which drew more than 200 people, Sandra Gonzalez said there were 342 inappropriate words in one book she looked at, and she did not understand why it would be in an SCPS school.

“Why should a child be exposed to pornography?” she asked.

“Who’s accountable?” said Chas Barber, a Casselberry resident, who read an excerpt from a book. “Please consider the law and your responsibility to uphold it.”

But others argued sex scenes do not equate to pornography and that the effort aimed to get rid of books about tough topics, such as rape and child abuse, and books that featured LGBTQ characters or characters who were not white.

Library books that describe a range of experiences are important to students, perhaps making them feel less alone or making them empathize with others, they said.

“Books help students learn about the vast world,” said Sandy Stenoff, another Casselberry resident, who urged the board not to pull books.