This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A school district protecting children from adult books has been hit with a complaint by extremists who want taxpayers to be forced to provide "sexually explicit and graphic" publications to kids.
The fight was outlined in a report in the Georgia Star News.
In the bull's-eye is the Cobb County School District which had addressed concerns about offensive material – those books that could not legally be read aloud at a board meeting – by removing "It Ends with Us," "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," "Lucky," and "Thirteen Reasons Why."
The report noted BookLooks, a website for parents that gives numerical scores of 1-5, rated "Thirteen Reasons Why" a 3 and recommended parental guidance.
The report noted that rating documents that a book as "excessive or explicit violence," "extreme or frequent hate," "excessive or frequent profanity," "references to sexual activity," and "drug or alcohol abuse."
"It Ends with Us" and "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" were scored at 4 for "explicit sexual nudity" and "obscene references to sexual activity."
"Lucky" was at a 5, designated for adults only, for "explicit references to aberrant" or abnormal sexual activities, the report said.
The complaint came from the National Women's Law Center and was submitted to the U.S. Department of Education, which does not necessary take action on every complaint. It charges the school with having a "hostile environment" created by the censorship of books by or about LGBTQIA and POC (people of color).
The school district told the publication the complaint was by those who were repeating "made-up narratives espoused and circulated by a small community group which includes candidates for local office."
The law center claimed the district's actions were "driven by extremists as part of a coordinated plan to erase learning."
The center claims that Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 demand that such books be included in schools, if they get federal funding.
