S Poddar
A really intense battle has emerged between the far-right group Moms for Liberty and a public school in Upstate New York because of five library books that it deems “obscene.” The organization, led on issues of parental rights with conservative leanings, says the books pose a serious threat and should be pulled out immediately.
These books have been challenged in the school library by Moms for Liberty-an organization labeled as extremist by the Southern Poverty Law Center. They say the content of these works “normalizes violence and abuse of women and children, depicts rape, equates violence and pain with pleasure, and encourages early sexual activity among minors.” This is part of a petition filed in Wayne County Supreme Court by Moms for Liberty with an evangelical pastor from the area.
Titles include the gun violence young adult novel “People Kill People” by Ellen Hopkins; romance novel with film treatment starring Blake Lively, “It Ends With Us” by Colleen Hoover; memoir about growing up gay and Black, “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson; a Little Red Riding Hood reimagining, centered on female empowerment, titled “Red Hood” by Elana K. Arnold; and “Jesus Land: A Memoir” by Julia Scheeres, about several rough experiences the author had at a fundamentalist church camp.
In response to the challenge, Jonathan Burman, a spokesman for the New York State Education Department said the state’s education commissioner, Betty Rosa has in the past defended the books. Rosa had ruled earlier that Moms for Liberty failed to show the books do not have “literary, artistic, political or scientific value” and indicated some of those passages claimed to be sexually explicit did not relate to sexuality.
Mom’s for Liberty has characterized Rosa’s ruling as “arbitrary” and an “abuse of discretion” because she misapplied the First Amendment. They now want an injunction to remove books from the library while their suit to ban them permanently works its way through the court system.
Abigail Southerland, an attorney representing Moms for Liberty did not offer a comment on the latest developments. The Finger Lakes Times first reported on the case and local chapter leader Jennifer Williams has said she will withhold further comment until the case is resolved.
The controversy began early in 2023, when the head of Christ Community Church in Clyde, New York, Rev. Jacob Marchitell approached the school board and asked them to remove books from Clyde-Savannah Junior/ Senior High School. Even though a committee found the books acceptable, pressure led the board to remove them. Despite a call for reversal from a librarian and one teacher, the board rescinded its decision before it was able to rule on the appeal. With the support of Moms for Liberty, Marchitell appealed the decision unsuccessfully, and in April 2024, Rosa ordered the books be kept in the library.
Moms for Liberty’s stake in this is heavy because many of its members have children in the district and have reported concerns about their children having access to these books. An ongoing petition coupled with a 165-page document enumerates specific objections to what the books contain. “People Kill People”, the petition states, contains 137 instances of profanity, “It Ends With Us” contains 105, and “All Boys Aren’t Blue” contains numerous profanities. “Red Hood” is noted as containing “numerous” instances of pornography while “Jesus Land” contains “several examples of sexually explicit content and profanities”.
In fact, co-founder of Moms for Liberty Tiffany Justice is scheduled to welcome Donald Trump to the annual event of the group, supposedly his second time in two years to make his appearance there. The group has also supported a book on book bans and supports Project 2025, considered a right-wing controversial plan for a potential Trump administration.
To the action of Rosa, Lisa Kropp, President of the New York Library Association, decried the intimidation tactics by Moms for Liberty. “Such efforts are part of a national trend affecting libraries and classrooms coast-to-coast, and NYLA remains committed to pushing back.”.
