School board rejects book review committee

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This article was published 24/05/2023 (838 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Most Brandon school board trustees rejected a request to review and ban books with LGBTQ+ content from school shelves at Tuesday evening’s marathon school board meeting.

At the end of the over-six-hour affair, which took place at Vincent Massey High School on Tuesday evening and early Wednesday morning, Brandon School Division board trustees voted 6-1 against a proposal to establish a committee to review and possibly ban books with subject matter surrounding gender identity and sexual health.

The proposition was first brought forward during the last school board meeting on May 8, when former trustee Lorraine Hackenschmidt called for the creation of a committee to review such books and potentially remove them from school shelves if they were deemed harmful to children.

While most current trustees didn’t provide comments following the May 8 presentation, they had plenty to say at this week’s meeting, with Kim Fallis, Blaine Foley, Jason Gobeil, Linda Ross, Duncan Ross and Jim Murray all firmly denouncing Hackenschmidt’s previous comments and voting against her proposal.

The only holdout was Breeanna Sieklicki, who stood firm in her belief that some books in BSD circulation should be subject to review given their alleged graphic nature.

Trustee Calistus Ekenna couldn’t attend the meeting due to a personal matter and didn’t vote. However, he did provide correspondence to the board clarifying his stance on the issue, noting he doesn’t support the creation of a book review committee.

The six trustees who voted in the negative provided passionate testimony during the board meeting, particularly when it came to Hackenschmidt’s “errors” and “untruths” about members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Linda Ross, clad in a rainbow-coloured scarf, took umbrage with Hackenschmidt’s claim that it’s not possible for a child to be “born in the wrong body,” stating this kind of rhetoric adds to the disproportionate rate of suicidality among transgender people.

“In making such a statement, that it’s not possible to be born in the wrong body, you are denying the reality of others,” Ross said. “And to invalidate that experience and the challenges that accompany that experience adds to the pain that transgender individuals live with every day.”

Fallis became visibly emotional during her time on the mic, as her own son had experienced homophobia after he came out as gay.

“I had loved my son for 22 years and I was not going to stop loving him,” she said.

“Before I totally break down in tears, the only thing I want to say is: be careful who you hate, because it could be someone you love.”

Murray and Gobeil both adopted a far angrier tone through their remarks, and Duncan Ross refused to mince words with regard to his own stance on Hackenschmidt’s proposal.

“We do not ban books in Brandon!” he said. “We do not marginalize and stigmatize the most vulnerable people in our population. We protect them, we encourage them. Those are our values. Those are Canadian values, Manitoba values, Brandon values.”

Despite the strong words from her fellow trustees, Sieklicki maintained her original support of Hackenschmidt’s proposal.

Sieklicki clarified at Vincent Massey that she doesn’t want the book review committee to focus on LGBTQ+ works exclusively, but rather general material that is inappropriate for students.

To press her point, Sieklicki read passages from Ellen Hopkins’ “Identical,” a young adult novel that’s been banned from many school divisions due to its graphic depiction of sexual assault and other mature themes.

“Why are we trying to sexualize minors when there’s an age limit for drinking?” she said.

“There’s R-rated video games and R-rated movies. We have an age [limit] for everything, but we do not have an age [limit] for these books.”

However, most of the audience gathered at Vincent Massey was not responsive to Sieklicki’s arguments and attempted to shout her down during her time at the mic.

The Vincent Massey gymnasium, in general, was full of sound and fury during the school board meeting, with residents having an opportunity to publicly voice their concerns about the proposed book ban before the board’s vote.

Compared to sparsely attended school board meetings of the past, Vincent Massey’s gymnasium was packed with hundreds of people, so much so that the facility was standing room only by the time the meeting officially began.

To kick things off, trustees read through a summary of the 289 emails and letters the division received following Hackenschmidt’s presentation on May 8.

While a few individuals were supportive of Hackenschmidt’s proposal to set up a book review committee, far more people were vehemently opposed to the idea, citing it as an attack against the LGBTQ+ community in Westman.

That ratio was reflected in the delegations and petitions section of the meeting, where roughly 30 local students, educators, activists and parents were given a platform to address the issue head on.

This section of the meeting started with testimony from Brandon student Jason Foster, who identifies as a transgender boy, highlighting the abuse and suicidal thoughts he experienced throughout his adolescence.

However, Foster found the strength to keep going because of the LGBTQ+ books and educational content available locally, which is why he opposes any proposal to remove such material from circulation.

“I couldn’t have been able to love myself without help from media or books containing people like me in them,” Foster said.

“I couldn’t have learned to love myself without friends who are just like me, who share my experiences. I couldn’t have learned to love myself without the education [that says] it is OK to … live the way I do.”

Other speakers described a potential book ban as a flagrant form of censorship, with Manitoba Library Association president Melanie Sucha characterizing such a move as a violation of the “human rights” of staff and students.

“These calls oppose access, equality, diversity, inclusion, equity and dignity,” Sucha said.

“These groups want to deny the experience and very existence of people in our communities and in the province and will pressure local institutions and leaders to act on false narratives … It will not stop with books.”

Brandon resident Penni Jones highlighted her experience as a parent of a transgender child, stating that an attack on LGBTQ+ reading material serves as a direct slight against her son and his mental health.

“I would rather have a healthy son than a dead daughter, which is a reality that parents in the LGBTQ community constantly worry about,” Jones said. “Be better Brandon.”

In her May 8 presentation, Hackenschmidt attempted to link LGBTQ+ content in schools as a form of grooming and pedophilia. Alysha Farrell, an associate professor in Brandon University’s faculty of education, said Tuesday evening this is a classic anti-LGBTQ+ trope that persists to this day.

Karli Jones, a mother of three and self-identified member of the queer community, characterized Hackenschmidt’s May 8 presentation as “abhorrent” and said it echoes similar anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric that’s taken root in the United States.

As of Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union was tracking 490 anti-LGBTQ+ bills across the nation, which range from eliminating gender-affirming care in certain states to banning public drag performances.

“Let’s call Mrs. Hackenschmidt’s presentation what it was: hate speech,” Jones said.

Multiple speakers also took aim at Hackenschmidt’s targeting of books that discussed puberty and sexual health, stating that these resources are vital in shielding students against unwanted pregnancy and protecting them from becoming victims of sexual abuse.

All speakers who objected to a book ban in the division received uproarious applause from the audience, who brandished rainbow-coloured flags and supportive signs with slogans such as: “It Doesn’t Take Courage to Ban Books.”

The most prevalent slogan on display during Tuesday’s school board meeting was “Don’t,” which referenced Brandon University’s one-word response to the prospect of banning books in the division two weeks ago.

Other groups represented during Tuesday’s meeting include Brandon Pride, the Brandon Teachers’ Association, Brandon and Area PFLAG, the Sexuality Education Resource Centre and BU’s gender and women’s studies program, who all opposed a book ban.

However, some members of the crowd spoke in favour of a book review committee, with parent John Roozendaal saying such a group could help build trust between the division and parents in the community.

“[Some] books may be found to be inappropriate. Let them be examined by adults with the best interest of children,” Roozendaal said.

“We should have nothing to hide in our libraries. We should fear nothing about exposing what’s in our libraries. This will build trust and confidence if done transparently and generally reflective of the concerns of the whole community.”

Resident Mike Theriault was of a similar mind, arguing that certain books currently in the division’s circulation are not appropriate for students.

Theriault spent his time at the podium quoting passages from Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye” and Juno Dawson’s “This Book is Gay,” saying these works contain graphic descriptions of rape and perpetuate harmful representations of gay men, respectively.

Even though the atmosphere of Tuesday’s meeting was mostly positive, the conflicting ideologies between different members of the crowd resulted in a few heated moments.

Theriault, who started off by joking that his pronouns are “brilliant” and “handsome,” was heckled throughout his presentation. Murray was particularly offended by Theriault’s remarks, saying he should be “ashamed” of himself.

At least one pro-committee member of the audience was kicked out early on for being disruptive.

For anyone who wants to watch Tuesday’s meeting in its entirety, an archived video is available on the school division’s website: http://surl.li/hgyrc.

» kdarbyson@brandonsun.com

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