Missouri School District Sued After Banning Book For Mentioning Gender Identity

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Missouri on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against a school district that banned a book with a nonbinary character from elementary schools after a single parent complained.

The Independence School District (ISD) in Independence, Missouri, a city of 120,000 about 10 miles away from Kansas City, banned “Cats vs. Robots #1: This is War” by Lewis Peterson and Margaret Stohl, which has three pages describing a nonbinary character. The board has repeatedly said there is no way to appeal or reverse the ban.

The lawsuit alleges that the district’s policy of removing books without notice or opportunity to appeal violates students’ rights to free speech and due process. It is asking the district to revoke this policy.

“Equity in our education system is further eroded when the government sets policies that require challenged books to automatically be pulled from shelves without notice or an opportunity to appeal the final decision, denying students their First Amendment and Due Process rights,” Gillian Wilcox, the deputy director for litigation at the ACLU of Missouri, said in a statement.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/missouri-school-book-ban_n_639222fce4b019c696202fe9

ONE parent? Seriously?