Banned In Boston

Used to mean that it was a good sexy book to read because of the "Puritans" history of Boston, but now Boston is playing second fiddle to the right-wing conservatives, they want to ban everything! But mostly us.

Half of challenged books return to schools. LGBTQ books are banned most.

After parents object, books with LGBTQ themes and characters are most likely to go

The Washington Post

By Hannah Natanson

December 23, 2023

Almost half of books challenged at school are returned to shelves, but titles with LGBTQ characters, themes and stories are most likely to be banned, according to a Washington Post analysis of nearly 900 book objections nationwide.

School officials sent 49 percent of challenged titles back to shelves, The Post found, a discovery some interviewed for this story hailed as proof the national alarm over book challenges has been overblown — although librarians warned of a severe burden on employees forced to spend months defending titles. The next most-common outcome, in 17 percent of challenges, was for a book to be placed under some form of restriction. Libraries might require parental permission or limit the youngest students from checking out a given title.

[...]

The Post analyzed the types of books challenged to determine what titles were most likely to be removed, restricted or retained. Books about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer lives were 30 percent more likely to be yanked, The Post found, compared with all targeted books. By contrast, books by and about people of color, or those about race and racism, were 20 percent more likely to be kept available compared with all targeted books.

"Banned in Boston" used to mean the book had much sex in them for the puritans. But now it is political views that are trying to ban books.

But books that the conservatives want to ban are being challenged...

“In a public system, challenges are appropriate, reviewing challenges is appropriate and, in some small number of cases, keeping those books out of circulation is probably appropriate,” said Robert Pondiscio, a senior fellow studying K-12 education at the American Enterprise Institute. “It sounds like the system is working as it should.”

In interviews, librarians across the country said they were heartened by the rate of returns — but cautioned that the success can come at a high cost. Defending books from challenges is equivalent to a “second full-time job,” said Martha Hickson, a New Jersey school librarian who fought attempts to ban five LGBTQ books in the 2021-2022 school year.

But still it disturbing that they are being banned in the first place.

Books should not be banned because they are about subject matter is about race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other protected classes. Back when Boston banned books it was because the books were too sexy or to violence not because the book was about Black history, or has a trans character.