Should a couple of books be banned and removed from the shelves at Newtown high school?
Members of the Board of Education considered the proposal Tuesday evening through a few hours of public comment and discussions. No decision was made after repeated deadlocks.
“Our stories deserve to be told. Our stories are beautiful. Queer people are beautiful and magical," said high school graduate Arline Almeter.
Almeter is a Newtown High School class of 2018 graduate. She’s passionate about the books she’s read including those involving LGBTQ characters. She was shocked to hear about a potential book ban.
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“I thought we we’re better than this even though honestly I think that might not be true," Almeter said.
The books in question are two graphic novels: "Flamer," which talks about a Filipino American struggling with his gay identity, and "Blankets" which is about an abused young man raised in a very religious family and experiencing love.
The complaints center around the books being too sexually explicit and inappropriate for students.
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“Sexually explicit material is not protected under the First Amendment when we’re talking about minors,” Derek Rosani, a Newtown resident who supported removing the books, said.
Sophomore Ashton Almeter disagrees, saying these stories are relevant.
“You can’t talk about queer people without talking about sexual assault, rape or bullying. These are the problems queer kids are facing and we have to talk about them,” Ashton said.
He feels removing the books would reject the experiences of many at the high school.
“We are just people, and we want our stories to be told the same way other people’s stories are told. This is who we are. We’re humans,” Ashton said.
The board, however, was undecided with three Democratic members voting to keep the books without restrictions and three Republican members wanting to set specific age limits on those books as a compromise.
The deadlock means the books remain on the shelves for now. One Republican board member was unable to attend Tuesday’s meeting.
Another school board meeting will have to be set for discussion and to take action. There's no word yet on the date.
