Utah School District Sued Over Restricted Access to Lesbian Family Book
A Utah parent has sued her school district in federal court challenging the constitutionality of restrictions imposed on student access to a library book about a lesbian couple raising a family.
“In Our Mothers’ House” by author Patricia Polacco was removed from Davis School District library shelves and placed behind the counter last spring after complaints from some parents that a lifestyle they viewed as aberrant was favorably depicted in the book.
Under a decision made by a district committee in April, the book remains in its school library collections, but students need permission from their parents to check it out.
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Parent Tina Weber objected to the restrictions, and attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on her behalf in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, saying the policy violated her children’s free-speech rights.
No hearings have been set in the case, for which the ACLU is seeking class-action status.
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More From an ACLU Utah Announcement Including this Page of Resources
See Also: Utah: ACLU Wants District to Reconsider Restrictions on Two-Moms Book (June 13, 2012)
Complaint Weber v Davis School District 11-13-12
Filed under: Libraries, News, School Libraries
About Gary Price
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area. He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit. Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.