Utah: “Book About Lesbian Mothers Back on School Library Shelves”

Here’s an update to a story we first shared last May and posted also posted about in November.
From The Salt Lake Tribune:

A children’s book about a family with lesbian mothers is back on Davis School District library shelves more than eight months after a committee first decided to restrict access to it.
The district returned the book, In Our Mothers’ House, by Patricia Polacco, to the regular shelves of four school libraries Monday in response to a lawsuit over the issue filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Utah in November on behalf of a Kaysville parent, said Chris Williams, Davis spokesman.
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Now children may check out the book without parental permission. However, parents may specifically request that the school forbid their child from checking out the book.
“We haven’t taken away the parents’ right to be in the driver’s seat regarding any book that they want their child to read or not read,” Williams said. “We looked at our policy and we asked the question, ‘Is there a less restrictive way we could honor parents’ rights?’ We decided, yes, there is.”

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Filed under: Libraries, News, School Libraries