Call to remove LGBTQ2, sex education books from Brandon schools met with approval, outrage
Global News
Lorraine Hackenschmidt wants a committee to examine books she calls "harmful" for children. Her stance is staunchly opposed by experts in education, libraries and LGBTQ2 supports.
A Manitoba woman’s call to ban certain LGBTQ2 and sex education books from libraries in Brandon School Division (BSD) is being met with both approval and widespread outrage.
“Being Jazz” and “It’s perfectly normal” — two books exploring LGBTQ2 and sex education topics available in libraries across the province — are among the non-fiction a woman and her supporters are challenging and want removed from BSD libraries.
“We must protect our children from sexual grooming and pedophilia,” Lorraine Hackenschmidt told the school division’s board of trustees on Monday.
At the meeting, Hackenschmidt requested they create a committee to examine and remove books she called “harmful” for children. The grandmother voiced concerns about books with sexually explicit language and images along with content about a transgender teen.
“I just ask that you would remove any books that cause our kids to question whether they are in the wrong body,” she said.
Hackenschmidt’s stance is staunchly opposed by people working in education, libraries and LGBTQ2 supports, including Ashley Smith with Winnipeg’s Rainbow Resource Centre.
“Queer content does not make queer youth, and there is plenty of research to support that, that queer youth are in the midst of a mental health crisis with alarmingly high suicide rates,” Smith, the centre’s director of advocacy, told Global News on Thursday.
“Here we are after all these decades, after winning our rights … here we are once again trying to defend ourselves,” Smith said.
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