By John Klar
Vermont’s Essex-Westford School District, which includes the town of Essex that last year fired a high school lifeguard for merely questioning Critical Race Theory, has done it again. In the midst of a national furor over a sexually explicit graphic novel, the school has proclaimed it has the duty to expose children to pornographic imagery — to support free speech.
It is axiomatic that free speech rights do not extend fully into schools – they never have. For example, the First Amendment protects quite a shocking variety of pornographic materials, including bondage and rape videos – are those acceptable, protected school teaching materials? School administrations are supposed to be answerable to the appropriate needs of children.
But ESWD has declared itself the champion of the miniscule percentage of children afflicted with gender dysphoria, which is not only rare but most often disappears with adulthood. ALL children must be sacrificed at Essex-Westford
The book in question, Gender Queer,created a national controversy not because the subject of the book is a binary student (a multitude of such titles abound, as all informed parents are now unavoidably aware) but because the book features “pages of explicit illustrations depicting oral sex.” The school’s defiant letter to parents avoids mentioning this fact, instead proclaiming itself the defender of constitutional values:
Essex High School recently learned that a gender-affirming book in our library is being discussed on various websites. There is a long history of certain books being banned in the United States, so this is not a new conversation.
This sentence marks the beginning of a perverse justification for distributing pornography to children. The rationale employed would serve to groom children sexually for adult gay sex as a child’s “right.” The rights-defending hero-school fails to observe that there is not a long history of providing sexually-explicit graphic novels to schoolchildren by public schools – this is very much a novel conversation.
Defying a request to remove the book, the school instead weaponized the GBQLT etc. movement as excuse:
At Essex High School, …we know how critically important it is within our curriculum …to have a representation of a plethora of lived experiences. Our students have a right to well-balanced library collection, including Gender Queer… which is one title sitting among numerous titles featuring cisgender, heterosexual relationships which, on a side note, are not being targeted.
Perhaps the side note should explain that there are no heterosexual titles with graphic fellatio scenes. Does the library offer Debbie Does Dallas to the kids, to provide “a plethora of lived experiences?” How about graphic novels depicting bondage or sado-masochism, or simply heterosexual equivalents like “Helping Johnny find Sally’s G-Spot” or “The Middleschoolers guide to Tantric massage”? If Gender Queer were (appropriately) titled “How To Jerk Off Your Friends, with Color Pictures”, would this vile school library proudly defend the filth?
The Gender Queer title has not created a national ruckus simply because the subject matter is about gay people – the EWSD is publicly gaslighting concerned parents by poo-pooing their legitimate concerns. This is a reminder of who works for whom in Vermont – parents are the subjects of bureaucratic rule, and they had better not get out of line or the FBI will be solicited.
The irony is capped off by the school’s arrogant invocation of a national library standard that “Materials should not be removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.” It is obvious that materials are being selected using partisan ideological motivations – the science is far from supportive of the ideological rush to mutating gender reassignment procedures for the young. But more, the school invoked this baloney standard to eclipse the understandable objections of parents, labeling them partisan. This is ideology in action, by administrators sworn to put kids and parents first.
Does the ESWD have copies of the Bible available, to “reaffirm [their] commitment to having a representation of a plethora of lived experiences?” How about Coming Out Straight: Understanding and Healing Homosexuality? Or maybe a book about the consequences to children of converting their gender prematurely, such as Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing our Daughters. Other titles prompting critical awareness in Vermont’s youth could include The Book of Matt: Hidden Truths About the Murder of Matthew Shepard, whose gay author explains that Matthew Shepard was not the victim of an anti-gay hate crime and in fact his killer was gay. Or maybe the school will place scholarly works by Thomas Sowell, Douglas Murray, or John McWhorter beside its full complement (plethora!) of tomes by the moron racial agitator Ibram X. Kendi.
The EWSD school library expresses a commitment to presenting diverse views in the name of nonpartisan critical thinking, while flagrantly indoctrinating children in a far-left ideological soup. This naked-school Emperor has gone streaking for parents across the nation to see its shallow, pathetic attempt to justify shameless abuse of the children entrusted to its care.
John Klar is an attorney and farmer residing in Brookfield. This commentary originally appeared at American Thinker.
Bernie is excited to learn that his snuff writing from decades past may become an additional retirement fund!
If we don’t own our past history as the US center for eugenics, we will never ever be able to face our history and participation in child abuse and sex trafficking. It ruins the Disneyesque bucolic image of Vermont. But this sickness is enabled and covered up by both our current and past leaders, as well as the convenient short term memory of long term Vermonters (a rarer and rarer breed).
Vermont has an image that does not match its actual personality.
It has moral dysphoria and can’t connect with any specific identity.
As a State, we’ve lost our compass bearings, and true north.
Live and let live, hopium for dreamers.
We have a dark past we need to own. Collective shadow work.
Then maybe we can right this sinking ship of depravity and lost morality.
Vermont not only owns a great dead of the eugenics movement, but its one and only Senator Justin S. Morrill is the primary case of the Civil War with the Morrill Act that taxed the south to the point where they succeeded.
So, if you check out Vt Digger, a teacher from Franklin is accused of sexual relations with a student from 11 years old to 17. In the same issue is a report that a CNN high ranking employee has been caught trying to solicit young girls 9 & 13? To properly train them sexually with the assistance of their mother.
Now, let me introduce yet another way the uniparty, uniparty left and uniparty right work together against our children and families.
Porn. Since the lock down interfamilial porn has been the most prevelant on all porn sites. It’s not a coincidence. We have been banned for even speaking about taxing porn (base entertainment at best) for years on vt digger. Now the folks at Vt digger love to talk about taxing everything in site. Movies are taxed. Cable tv has a tax. But not porn? Uniparty left clearly wants this.
Uniparty right says we don’t want to raise any taxes!
So here you have the uniparty, right and left, working in perfect harmony to corrupt your kids and family. Our kids would be better served learning math rather than how to gI’ve a good B.J.
The Vt GOP could raise awareness to what is going on. Raise some taxes, which we all know stifles business, that’s the whole point in this regard. $20 a day, tax the hell out of it literally.
The intent to confuse a populace about sexuality is intentional, planned and orchestrated, fueled easily by mans own lusts. It is a very clever way to tear down a society, used by soviet military in their acts of subversion ( how to take over a country without firing a shot, the highest art form of war – Sun Tzu)
What will the VTGOP do?
The planned parenthood equivalent reading is a book called “sex is a funny word”. Its not much better….
Our taxpayer dollars are paying for this garbarge system. Every time a school budget rolls around, the taxpayer blindly votes yes to support institutional child abuse. Until 2020, most of the real nasty business going on in schools was unknown. Now, we know more and it is worse than anyone could imagine. Are we going to keep paying for this garbage? Hold them accountable or keep throwing your money into a system that is grooming and abusing innocent children.
Wow and wow again. Vermont has definitely gone down a rabbit hole and it seems there is no way back to reality.
Good article John. Essex and Westford serve as excellent examples regarding the dangers of legislation and representation founded in wokeism. We will all suffer as a result of these woke policies in the future, especially the vulnerable youth. Take your kids out of the government schools. If you can’t, get yourself involved in school policy. Most people disagree with the woke narrative but are afraid to speak up due to the mob rule mentality on the left and groups like blm and antifa. We all must be willing to sacrifice some for the wellbeing of the future of our nation. The lives of everyone in our families, communities, state, country and globe depend on it. Speak up!
This is sick stuff and pure evil.
How on earth can Vermont claim to be pro-family doing this?
Being pro-family is being Pro-Future!!
I’m raising kids right now and I really think that the Northeast is fast becoming not a good place at all to raise kids and a family.
It’s too expensive just to survive so many families are forced to go without a lot of things that could really benefit the kid. There are way too many extreme policies and Laws.
God, Free Speech and solid American Values seem to be becoming a thing of the past up here and it’s clear that we are not able to vote our way back to “Normal” anymore.
My kids come home from school and tell me what the teachers are saying to them and it’s shocking and downright verbal abuse.. and these are supposedly “our betters” that are trashing talking to our kids.
The Elites want to turn our states into a utopia for the rich and the depraved apparently.
Well go take a look at how well economies in depopulating countries are doing right now..
We are being controlled by crooks, thieves, very dumb and very short sited control freaks..
There is a great big country out there and maybe young parents looking to raise a family in a normal and decent environment should go have a look out there.. the writing on the wall up here gets more and more clear.
Do they follow up the lesson with an ad from planned parenthood???
These lqbtqrst types of whom most can’t procreate children together should
not have any say in what’s being taught in the federal indoctrination centers… HOME SCHOOL or Private Ed…