His on-camera literary recitation from a young adult novel was a response to a Democratic-sponsored bill up for consideration in the Senate that would prevent schools from removing textbooks or library books due to themes of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion or disability.
To protest the bill, which was not up for a vote in the House, Yunker read a passage from the young adult novel The Haters by Jesse Andrew, which some reviewers have described as “raunchy.” Yunker said the Three Rivers School District in his district decided to keep the book in a school library after a parent complained it was inappropriate for teens.
The number of books I would ban from a public library is precisely zero. That’s not the same thing as saying that they shouldn’t have age-restricted books. But for adults I would make everything available.
That the Democrats, once again, seem unable to grasp the notion of age sensitivity in public schools continues to boggle the mind. The text of the bill includes:
(2) To comply with the prohibition on discrimination required by ORS 659.850, a district school board or a committee or administrator responsible for the adoption of textbooks or
other instructional materials under this section may not prohibit the use of, or refuse to approve the use of, textbooks or instructional materials on the basis that the textbooks or
instructional materials include a perspective, study or story of, or are created by, any individual or group identified in subsection (1) of this section.
So if I think that transgenderism, which is more accurately described as gender dysphoria, is a mental illness that should not be presented to children, I’m out of luck. If this bill passes, I have no grounds in Oregon to object on this basis. That alone is a problem.
That “sexual orientation” should somehow provide carte blanche for schools and districts to make sexually explicit works available to minors is another.
What’s amazing is that the Democrats in Oregon don’t see either of these things as issues for kids. But reading a sexually explicit work—already available in schools—on the House floor, well, that’s beyond the pale.