A library in Fairfax County, Virginia became the subject of controversy for the selections placed in their Christmas reading display, which featured the Bible alongside “Lawn Boy” by Jonathan Evison and “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe. Both books contain sexually explicit material.
The display featured colorful gnomes behind each book selection and included quotes from other readings, including Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses.” According to the Associated Press, “Gender Queer” is a graphic novel that contains explicit illustrations of oral sex and masturbation, and the novel “Lawn Boy” contains graphic descriptions of sexual activity involving children.
“Gender Queer” and “Lawn Boy” had previously been barred from school libraries after complaints from parents, but both have since been reinstated after committees that included administrators, librarians, parents and students reviewed them and determined that they were appropriate for high school students.
It is unclear how long the display was up at the library, but it became the center of an outcry within the community on Tuesday when local resident Stacy Langton posted images of the display to Twitter, saying, “At #FairfaxCounty Dolley Madison Library mocks my efforts to remove #PornInSchools and mocks Christianity!”
“These are YOUR taxpayer dollars, Virginia,” Langton added, tagging a number of Virginia politicians, including Virginia’s Republican Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin and Lieutenant Governor-elect Winsome Sears.
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Langton tweeted about the display around 10:00 a.m., and she told Fox News that when she returned to the library a few hours later, the display had already been removed. The librarians told Langton that the display was taken down around noon.
“It was intentional; it was meant to be offensive,” Langton told Fox News.
In a statement, Fairfax County Public Library Director Jessica Hudson said that the display was not intended as an attack on Christian values or Christian parents.
“The holiday reading display was intended to highlight the freedom to read and the fact that many library patrons have more time during the holidays to do so. It was not the intention of staff to create a display that could be construed as offensive,” Hudson said.
Nevertheless, Langton told the Associated Press that the display “was a big dig at parents and a big dig at Christianity…They’re mocking parents who object to pedophilia and pornographic material inside our school libraries.”
Langton is planning to stage a protest outside the library on Saturday.
