Local
Critics falsely claim LGBTQ books promote pedophilia in Fairfax schools
Complaints by parents prompt removal of two titles for ‘detailed review’
A leader of a group that advocates for LGBTQ students in the Fairfax County, Va., public school system expressed concern this week that misinformed parents and news media outlets were incorrectly reporting that two controversial LGBTQ-themed books available in high school libraries promoted pedophilia.
Following strong objections to the books by parents at a Sept. 23 meeting of the Fairfax County School Board, officials with Fairfax County Public Schools announced they had removed the books from the school libraries to reassess their suitability for high school students.
The two books, “Lawn Boy,” a novel by author Jonathan Evison, and “Gender Queer: A Memoir,” which is described as an illustrated autobiography by non-binary author Maia Kobabe, each contain graphic descriptions of sexual acts. But supporters and opponents of the books strongly disagree over whether those depicted as having sex in books include children having sex with an adult.
During the Fairfax School Board meeting last week, Stacy Langton, a parent of two students attending a Fairfax County high school, described in detail a passage from “Lawn Boy” in which the book’s lead character tells a friend that when he was 10 years old, he engaged in oral sex with “the real estate guy” named Doug.
Langston told school board members and many parents attending the meeting that the passage in “Lawn Boy,” “describes a fourth-grade boy performing oral sex on an adult male.” She said the other book, “Gender Queer,” “has detailed illustrations of a man having sex with a boy.”
Robert Rigby, co-president of Fairfax Public Schools Pride, an LGBTQ advocacy group, strongly disputes Langston’s claims that the books depict sex between adults and children.
“I have read them cover to cover and this is simply not true,” he told the Washington Blade.
The Blade couldn’t immediately obtain copies of the two books, which have been sold out at local bookstores. Rigby, however, provided the Blade with excerpts of other passages of “Lawn Boy” that he said Langston and others attacking the book either have not read or have chosen to ignore. Those passages make it clear that the person with whom the fourth-grade boy had sex was another boy his own age that took place years earlier and there are no passages in “Lawn Boy” where adults have sex with children.
One of the passages from the book that opponents did not read at the school board meeting includes the book’s main character, Mike Munoz, telling how he liked going to a Bible study class as a 10-year-old kid because the boy he later says he had sex with was also attending the class.
“All told, there were eight or nine other kids, including my hero, Doug Goble, long before he became the hottest real-estate agent in Kitsap County.”
Rigby said he and others who have read and viewed the illustrations in “Gender Queer” do not believe the comic book style drawings depicting sexual acts include a child having sex with an adult as claimed by opponents of the books.
“The scene published is a scene between genderqueer adults in their early 20s,” Rigby said. “Someone pointed out an imagined scene of a Greek vase in which some folks brought up the idea of Ancient Greek ‘pederasty,’” said Rigby, who added that the book could not be interpreted to show an adult having sex with a juvenile. “Instead, a genderqueer person is imagining themselves a genderqueer person in the scene,” he said.
“Our position on the books controversy is that it is not so much about the books,” said Rigby. “It is an effort to continue the crisis about schools over the next few months targeting libraries and LGBTQIA+ people,” with the aim, he said, to drive up conservative turnout for the November Virginia gubernatorial election. “We have seen this movie before in Fairfax,” he said.
Langston, the parent who spoke at the school board meeting, said she and other parents consider the two books to be a form of pornography because they include explicit descriptions or illustrations of sexual acts regardless of who is engaging in those acts.
“I’m not one of those activist moms or disgruntled moms,” she stated in an interview with Fox News. “This is not about being anti-gay, anti-trans or whatever. I would have been there and said every single word I said if this had been the depiction of a heterosexual couple with heterosexual acts – pornography is pornography and I don’t care what the gender is,” she told Fox News.
“And by the way, it’s even worse that the pornography involves children,” she said. “That takes it to a whole other level of evil.”
The Fairfax Public Schools released a statement announcing it had suspended circulation of the two books from its libraries.
“FCPS is in the process of convening two committees made up of staff, students and parents led by our Library Services Coordinator to assess the suitability of both texts for inclusion in our high school libraries,” the statement says. “The recommendation of the committees will be put forward to the Assistant Superintendent of Instructional Services who will make a final decision as to whether FCPS continues to provide access to these books in our high school libraries,” it says.
Both books have received the American Library Association’s Alex Award, an annual award that recognizes the year’s “ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults ages 12 through 18,” according to the Associated Press.
A review by the publication Book Browse describes “Lawn Boy” as a “funny, angry, touching, and ultimately deeply inspiring novel” that takes the reader “into the heart and mind of a young man on a journey to discover himself, a search to find the secret to achieving the American dream of happiness and prosperity.”
A review by the Cartoon Art Museum based in San Francisco describes “Gender Queer” as an “intensely cathartic autobiography” by author Maia Kobabe that tells of a “journey of self-identity, which includes the mortification and confusion of adolescent crushes, grappling with how to come out to family and society.” The review says that the book, which starts as a way for the author to explain what it means to be nonbinary and asexual, becomes more than just a personal story.
“It is a useful and touching guide on gender identity – what it means and how to think about it – for advocates, friends, and humans everywhere.”
Rigby and Fairfax County School Board member Karl Frisch, who is gay, have said they have become the target of hostile social media postings by opponents of the two books. The Associated Press reported that Frisch “offered a defense of sorts” for the two books in a Twitter message he posted following the school board meeting in which the subject of the books came up.
He stated, “nothing will disrupt our Board’s commitment to LGBTQIA+ students, families and staff. Nothing,” the AP quoted his message as saying. But the AP said he wasn’t explicit about whether his tweet was referring to the attacks against the two books and he declined comment when contacted by the AP.
“The past 36 hours have been surreal,” Frisch stated in another social media posting. “Led by a local, right-wing, anti-schools advocate who claimed I was defending pornography and perversion, I’ve received nearly 1,000 comments, emails, voicemails, etc. from around the world attacking me as some sort of child predator,” he wrote.
Rehoboth Beach
SUNFESTIVAL takes center stage as Rehoboth Beach closes out summer
Labor Day Weekend bustling with events, including David Archuleta performance
Labor Day Weekend marks the unofficial end of summer in Rehoboth Beach, but there will be no shortage of LGBTQ events, with CAMP Rehoboth’s annual SUNFESTIVAL taking over town this weekend.
Thursday (9/3)
Get your Labor Day Weekend started early Thursday night with happy hour from 5-7 p.m. at Diego’s Bar & Nightclub, followed by Naughtee Bingo hosted by Magnolia Applebottom at 8:30 p.m.
After bingo, the party continues with Dancing at Diego’s from 9 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.
Aqua Bar & Grill will also kick off its Labor Day Weekend festivities Thursday with a DJ spinning from 9 p.m.-1 a.m.
Friday (9/4)
The weekend ramps up Friday night at Aqua, where DJ Matt Bailer will keep the dance floor moving from 9 p.m.-1 a.m.
Over at Diego’s, DJ Steve Sidewalk will then take over Diego’s for Freedom Friday from 9 p.m.-1:30 a.m.
Saturday (9/5)
The main event of the weekend arrives Saturday with the opening night of CAMP Rehoboth’s SUNFESTIVAL.
Billed as the ultimate party to close out the summer, SUNFESTIVAL has become one of Rehoboth’s signature Labor Day Weekend events. The annual celebration sells out each year, with proceeds benefiting CAMP Rehoboth.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. with refreshments available at the cash bar while attendees are invited to socialize and find their seats.
Saturday night will feature local singer Ashley Williams as the opening performer, followed by headliner David Archuleta. The event will also feature a live auction.
Back across town Saturday, Aqua will continue its Labor Day Weekend DJ lineup from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Diego’s will also have plenty happening, with ‘Splash Party’ hosted by Magnolia Applebottom at 5 p.m., followed by a Saturday Dance Party with Brett Oosterhaus from 9 p.m.- 1:30 a.m.
The Blue Moon hosts its popular Legends Show at 9 p.m. It’s an all-live singing show by the Blue Moon cast of celebrity impersonators.
Etienne Pilon has taken Rehoboth by storm this summer. Check out the talented singer/pianist at The Pines from 7-10 p.m.
Sunday (9/6)
Sunday’s SUNFESTIVAL event will shift the focus to the dance floor, with globally renowned DJs Robbie Leslie and James Anthony scheduled to perform. Doors open at 7 p.m., with dancing continuing until 1 a.m.
On Sunday, Aqua will throw its annual White Party, with DJs spinning from 9 p.m.-1 a.m. Guests are encouraged to dress in white for the holiday weekend celebration.
Diego’s will host its Sunday High T-Dance with Pamala Stanley at 5 p.m. Later that evening, DJ Tannr will be spinning at 9 p.m.
John Flynn is on the piano from 6-8 p.m. at the Blue Moon.
Monday (9/7)
The final day of Labor Day Weekend brings one last chance to hit the dance floor before summer officially winds down.
Aqua will close out its five-day Labor Day Weekend celebration with DJ Biff from 3-7 p.m.
Maryland
Anne Arundel schools now need parent permission to call trans students by preferred names
Conservative groups challenged system’s policy
By JESSICA CALEFATI | Anne Arundel County Public Schools staff cannot use transgender students’ preferred names if their parents oppose it, according to an internal document reviewed by the Banner, a change that comes after conservative groups challenged the school system’s approach to gender identity.
Teachers union president Kristina Korona told members in an Aug. 20 email that the new guidance undermines district policy on acceptance and inclusivity and “will begin harming affected students immediately.”
Previously, the district didn’t require parental permission to use a high school student’s chosen name and pronouns corresponding to their gender identity, the internal document says. Now it does. The change comes as parents challenge the suburban school system’s gender identity policy and regulation in court and the Trump-Vance administration threatens the district’s funding.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
District of Columbia
‘People don’t see me. They see a trend’
New popularity of all things Asian warps view of multiple cultures
As I was growing up, my parents often shared stories about how they were bullied when they were my age, just for being Asian. My mom is Cambodian and my dad is “Wasian,” Chinese and white. Students teased them for their looks, their homemade lunches, and treated their traditional holidays as jokes.
I once asked my mom when I was little if she could pack me dumpling leftovers for lunch. “Yes,” she said with a surprised look, adding, “I would have never wanted to bring dumplings to school when I was your age because I would always get bullied for them. I’m glad times have changed.”
At the time, I was confused. Whenever I brought a homemade Asian dish to school for lunch, I was happy to hear intriguing and curious questions from the other kids. It felt good to have my meal be popular and different from the Lunchables everyone else had.
Though times have changed, racism still continues. It just has a new face. Today, social media pretends to flatter our cultures in an insincere way trying to gain popularity just for clicks. Think anything from K-pop to Japan’s surge in international tourism. Even Starbucks has added drinks with the flavor of ube yam, native to the Philippines, onto its menu.
I feel that now when people see me, they don’t see me, they see a trend.
For years, Asian people have been portrayed as foreign or exotic. The new embrace of foods and fashion at first felt good. Asians have never been represented as much as they’ve deserved.
But this new popularity warps what non-Asians see. Instead of the blunt and direct racism my parents faced, everything now is a gray area, more discreetly hidden behind some TikTok video. It actually normalizes racism and stereotypes.
Whitewashing my culture
As a 15-year-old Asian American who lives in D.C., I’ve always been one of the few Asian kids in school; my high school today counts less than 2 percent of students as being of Asian descent. I remember always being called “that one Asian girl” or some slur a kid learned from their parents. Every time I search for something related to Asian culture, such as a recipe or maybe a holiday, it’s always the same thing: some white person whitewashing my culture.
Social media is the main culprit, of course. I realized this when I entered high school and got a phone and was introduced to the internet. That is when I realized how messed up the new stereotypes around Asians are.
One pattern I started to notice was people wanting to be Asian just because it was popular. It was hurtful, patronizing, and annoying. They made assumptions about our race and then only found us “cool” because we were trending. How can people go from hating us or finding us weird, to then only liking us because we’re popular?
There was a trend going around on TikTok called “race change to another” or RCTA. It is this trend of people manifesting certain physical traits to change their appearance in order to change races. According to journalist Emi Tran, writing then as an intern for NBC Digital, the trend started when a white woman wanted to be Japanese. The woman began posting TikTok videos of herself wishing for different features such as monolids. Tran wrote in that 2023 article that “the overwhelming majority of the RCTA community wants to be East Asian.”
People also look up to K-pop culture, idolizing the pop groups pulled together by big entertainment companies. Most people expect all Koreans to be K-pop fans. Korean friends are asked about K-pop all the time even though they are not into the South Korean music genre.
Although I am not South Korean — I am half Cambodian and Chinese — I still get asked, almost like I’m expected, “You’re really into this group, right?” or “Can you tell me how to pronounce this member’s name?”
I was asked even worse questions during COVID-19. Suddenly, discrimination and violence were increasing specifically toward Asians everywhere. Suddenly, almost everyone was blaming Chinese people for spreading and causing COVID-19.
I remember going to school for one of the last times before quarantine had started and hearing kids whisper, “Oh, she’s going to give us the Coronavirus.” President Donald Trump had publicly posted his opinions about the situation on social media, blaming China for the pandemic, even calling it the “Chinese Virus” or the “Wuhan Virus.” According to NPR, anti-Asian hate crimes in U.S. cities surged 149 percent that year.
The topic of Asians in the media has always been complicated. One moment people can hate us for being weird and different and the next we’re suddenly popular and cool for the same reasons.
I feel conflicted on whether I should feel happy that we’re being represented or angry that it’s all for the wrong reason and has the wrong effects.
Lily Brugman is a sophomore at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School, one of Youthcast Media Group’s journalism class partners. She worked with YMG volunteer and Professor Emerita in journalism at American University Amy Eisman on this piece.
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