In September 2023, on day 9 of 10 of a trip to speak at 10 schools in San Antonio, TX, a parent complained that in my assemblies for grades 3 and up, I said someone in my story was gay. This parent did not hear my talk, read my book, see my film, or meet me.
The school district's response to me: leave out the word going forward or we're canceling the 10th and last school visit.
We canceled.
This month, I heard from a school librarian who had been working in San Antonio when that happened, though I didn't visit her school. She now lives in a blue state. Her message meant a lot:
I remember hearing other librarians speak highly about your presentation and they spoke highly about you. We all hated seeing the fallout from the last cancelled day. I can say this, very unofficially, no one on our end wanted your visit cancelled. I am not in the position to bring an author on my campus [I have no budget and admin isn't interested]. So, I am just dropping in to say THANKS for fighting the good fight.
Add this person to the list of San Antonio school librarians who reached out to me while people in their district—and beyond—were publicly calling me a groomer, pervert, and villain, and that makes a grand total of...two.
But I didn't expect them to do so, nor did I need them to. It's not about me. I'm confident that most if not all of the district's librarians agree that all people deserve respect and equity. I understand why they stayed silent. These are fearful times to show empathy. Jobs and reputations, if not safety, are on the line.
However...meaningful change rarely occurs from within our comfort zone.
We are rapidly approach a breaking point, meaning if more people within the system do not start speaking up, adults in such communities will continue to manipulate kids into elevating white, straight, often Christian people over everyone else.
This comment by a Tennessee librarian who wanted to book me but ultimately couldn't will bring the wounded state of American public school education into even more dire focus:
The school board and others [in the community] do not see you in layers. They see all authors [except Christian authors] as evil. No subtlety.
And such people say we're indoctrinating...
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