Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis began a press conference on Wednesday by playing a shocking video showing sexually explicit content from books found in the Sunshine State’s
public schools — forcing at least one local news channel to cut away due to the graphic material, reported Victor Nava of the New York Post.
Editor’s Note: The content linked here is only appropriate for adults, is not safe for work and will be offensive to most CHQ readers.
DeSantis held the news conference — which was branded “Exposing the Book Ban Hoax” — to highlight books that the governor says violate Florida’s curriculum standards, as well as counter claims that his restrictions were unjustified.
“We believe in the rights of parents to be involved in the education of their children and therefore have enacted curriculum transparency legislation, so that the parents know what books are being used in the classroom, what books do their kids have access to, and then they have procedures where they can say, ‘Wait a minute’ – you know, some of the stuff you saw up there – ‘that is pornographic,” the governor said. “Why would we have that in a media center with 10-year-old students? It’s just wrong,” reported Mr. Nava.
The videos are in response to claims that the administration is banning books.
“I think that we need to have truth prevail. And so today we’re going to be exposing, we’ve already exposed with that video I think, this idea of a book ban in Florida,” DeSantis said according to reporting by Michelle Vecerina of Florida’s Voice.
The video included pictures from books that were found in schools that contained sexual imagery. It also listed out the schools that some of the books were located in.
“That’s [book ban] a hoax. And that’s really a nasty hoax, because it’s a hoax in service of trying to pollute and sexualize our children,” DeSantis said. "[for their children] to see some of that stuff in there? I think most parents would say 'absolutely not.'"
In a perhaps unintentional endorsement of Gov. DeSantis’s statement that the books are pornographic or otherwise unfit for children, Ms. Vercerina reported that Twitter marked a tweet by Florida’s Voice linking to the video as “sensitive content.”
Officials from the governor’s office told Florida’s Voice the administration never dictated shelves be cleared, calling it political theater.
However, Democrats such as Florida’s Democrat House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell claimed that “books are banned and librarians are terrified.” Florida’s Democrat Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book made similar comments that banning books is “not freedom” during her response to the governor’s State of the State Address, reported Ms. Vercerina.
“The important thing is, is that’s a false narrative in service of using our schools, for indoctrination, rather than education and we’ve drawn a very firm line in the sand and Florida about that,” DeSantis said at the press conference.
The DeSantis administration recently announced that more than 20 Florida schools removed books in the 2022-23 school year, noting many of them contained pornography, violence, or were not appropriate for the grade level.
DeSantis also pointed out that taxpayer money was being used to place the books on school library shelves.
“They [parents] don’t want the garbage, and the idea that that’s even in there is inappropriate for these young kids, but they are using your tax dollars to put that in,” DeSantis said. “How is that an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars? To put that in?”
According to DeSantis, there have been 23 school districts in the Sunshine State found to have books that violated state standards,” mostly involving pornographic material.”
The governor’s video revealed sexually explicit books that were found in schools. One book titled Flamer was found in Broward, Collier, Hillsborough, Marion, Seminole, and Volusia County.
In the book, a group of young boys attend a camp and go to an island that is shaped like a penis. It also contains a shower scene with the group of boys and one of them gets an erection, Florida’s Voice reported.
Mr. Nava reported one of the books in the video was “Gender Queer,” a memoir by Maia Kobabe that contains illustrations of masturbation and encourages gender-affirming surgeries such as double mastectomies.
Also featured was “Let’s Talk About It,” by Erika Moen, a book with drawings and descriptions of masturbation, instructions for anal sex, and a guide on how to send sexually explicit text messages and images to others – with tips that include hiding birthmarks, piercings and other identifiable features.
Several books by author Rupi Kaur were also shown, including one that was singled out for having poetry referencing sex acts, reported the New York Post.
“This is porn,” text accompanying the video stated. “These books violate Florida standards and curriculum. The hoax from the left is that these books were never in Florida schools.”
Our friends at the Florida Citizen’s Alliance have been leaders in the fight to keep porn out of Florida’s schools and their “porn report” contributed greatly to Governor DeSantis’s decisive action on the issue. We urge every CHQ reader and friend to do what the Florida Citizens Alliance has been doing – demand to know what your children and grandchildren are being exposed to in your public school media centers and libraries.
If you do not reside in Florida contact your local school administration to find out if any of these sexually explicit books are in your child’s school, you can start with the list compiled by Christian Patriot Daily and build your effort from there and use the resources in this back to school guide for parents from the Family Policy Alliance and Focus On The Family.
Ron DeSantis
Exposing the Book Ban Hoax
Book Banning
pornography
House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell
Senate Minority Leader Lauren Book
Florida Citizen’s Alliance
parental rights
Focus on the Family