Florida school district orders librarians to purge all books with LGBTQ characters

Florida school district orders librarians to purge all books with LGBTQ characters

Sep 27 2023

Librarians in public schools in Charlotte County, Florida, were instructed by the school district superintendent to remove all books with LGBTQ characters or themes from school and classroom libraries. The guidance by Charlotte County Superintendent Mark Vianello and the school board’s attorney, Michael McKinley, was obtained by the Florida Freedom to Read Project (FFTRP) through a public records request and shared with Popular Information.

The guidance made clear that all books with LGBTQ characters are to be removed even if the book contained no sexually explicit content. The librarians asked if they could retain books in school and classroom libraries with LGBTQ characters as long “as they do not have explicit sex scenes or sexual descriptions and are not approaching ‘how to’ manuals for how to be an LGBTQ+ person.” The guidance provided by Vianello and McKinely was: “No. Books with LBGTQ+ characters are not to be included in classroom libraries or school library media centers.”

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