Michigan parents sue district over 'X-rated' sexually explicit books in school library

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Why does the left want children to be exposed to pornographic books?: Rufo

Manhattan Institute senior fellow Chris Rufo weighs in on "America Reports" with regard to Muslim parents in Dearborn, Michigan, fighting against schools allowing access to "sexually explicit" books in K-12 library.

Parents in a Michigan suburb are taking legal action against their children's public school for allowing sexually explicit books into the school library, despite repeated calls for their removal.

The Dearborn Public School board was notified of the lawsuit during a Department of Education meeting on Monday night, where parents in the predominantly Muslim community expressed outrage over the board's approval of books that feature "pornographic" content in the K-12 student library.

The lawsuit comes one month after an October meeting was cut short by school administrators when a group of angry parents first confronted the board with their concerns, questioning the school's process for determining if a book is appropriate for the school library.

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Dearborn, Michigan, school board member Roxanne McDonald presides over a meeting, Oct. 10, 2022. (Dearborn Public Schools)

"These aren't simply books about LGBTQ issues, which is what the left would like to claim," prominent critical race theory opponent Christopher Rufo told "America Reports" on Tuesday. "They are pornographic, very explicit, they go into kind of X-rated sexual detail in many cases, and these are available in public school libraries, targeting kids as young as elementary school."

Rufo has spent the last several months closely documenting the battle among parents who are seeking to have more autonomy over the education of their children. From Virginia to Utah to Michigan, Rufo said the pushback by parents fighting for appropriate reading material in school libraries is more of a "common sense" issue than a political one.

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"It’s actually not Democrat-Republican anywhere in the country. Most parents are pretty common sense. They want to have a wide diversity of books, covering a range of topics, they want to show respect for everyone in the classroom, regardless of sexual orientation, but these are sexually explicit and pornographic books, often with very graphic depictions of sexual activity," Rufo said. "This is just not appropriate, and it’s certainly not a book ban to say we don’t want pornography targeting young children in elementary schools."

"The question is for the left," he continued. "Why do they want pornographic books being exposed to children? We should flip the script, ask them the hard questions and see how they defend themselves."

The Dearborn school district implemented a new book policy in October that allows parents to opt their children out of certain books. But most parents took issue with this approach.

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A Dearborn, Michigan, school board meeting ended after the fire marshal said the gathering broke the fire code, Oct. 10, 2022. (Dearborn Public Schools)

In a segment of the school board meeting posted by Rufo on his Twitter account Monday night, a Dearborn mother can be heard reading sexually explicit material from a book titled "Flamer," which her child brought home from the school library. "America Reports" host John Roberts said that the contents of the book, which contained graphic descriptions and pornographic references, was deemed unfit to air during the Fox News interview.

The mother said she has no plans to return the book to the school library and will pay the necessary fines that incur. Rufo encouraged other parents to continue to speak up "with courage and without fear" to protect the education of America's youth.

"Conservatives need to stand strong with the simple message [that] parents are the ultimate arbiters of the education for their children," Rufo said. "They should be in power over the schools, over the legislative bodies. This is the heart of our democracy, and we have to make sure that parents can determine what is appropriate and inappropriate regarding their children, especially in the youngest grades."

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"As the voters, the parents, we get to decide what’s taught to the kids, and there are examples all over the country," he added. "You have to attack this with courage and without fear."