A Palm Beach County mother has requested that dozens of books addressing topics such as LGBT issues, abortion and atheism be removed from county high schools.

According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel:

Laura Lopez wants dozens of books removed from two Palm Beach County high school libraries because the contents address homosexuality, abortion, and atheism.

“Those books should never be in the schools for kids to see,” Lopez, a mother of three from west of West Palm Beach, said Monday.

Following Superintendent Art Johnson’s March refusal to remove the books, the School Board on Wednesday will hold a rare hearing on the book challenge.

The board set aside 15 minutes for Lopez’s appeal, to which she’s entitled under school district procedures.

[...]

Lopez did not attend December and January meetings of committees that reviewed and rejected her challenges at Royal Palm Beach High School and Alexander W. Dreyfoos Jr. School of the Arts in West Palm Beach. Two of her children are incoming sophomores at Royal Palm Beach; one used to attend Dreyfoos. Lopez’s youngest child is entering the fourth grade.

Dreyfoos Principal Ellen Van Arsdale, in a January letter to Lopez, listed four reasons for the committee’s denial. Cited were Florida education standards that students examine “a literary selection from several critical perspectives,” and a portion from a national Library Bill of Rights that “libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues.”

Two of the books that Lopez challenged are: Sexual Values: Opposing Viewpoints by Charles P. Cozic and Abortion: Opposing Viewpoints by Tamara L. Roleff.

“The Committee believes topics of abortion, atheism and homosexuality are social issues that high school students encounter in the media and in some situations within their families and social networks, such as in debate tournaments throughout the School District,” Van Arsdale wrote.

[...]

Lopez, in a January letter to Johnson, wrote, “I know that the Constitution says freedom of speech, but what about my freedom as a parent to not want [my children] to read about abortion and homosexuality in their school library.”

Okay. She’s clearly beyond sanity. No sane conversation or reasons for these books being in the library will satisfy this woman.

First of all… If you don’t want your kids reading this stuff, then use your power as a parent to snoop on your kids and check to see they haven’t checked these books out of the library. She might make her kids lives a miserable one, but at least you won’t be trying to control the lives of everyone else and their kids.

And on a second note… I offer Ms. Lopez a new proposal: Remove the Bible from high schools. Yup, that’s right: The Bible deals with “controversial” topics such as homosexuality and atheism and it contains content such as murder, war, incest, rape and general sexuality issues, all of which are inappropriate for kids.

As for the reason why library censorship is bad: Note the paragraph directly above this one.

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