Drama in Cheyenne
Raina Telgemeier is a master of the middle grade graphic novel. Published in 2012, her Drama has drawn ire and adoration in equal measure it seems. The story of middle school kids putting on a theater performance has made the American Library Association’s (ALA) most challenged books list four times. The reason is simple: Telgemeier has the unmitigated gall to depict gay kids existing. In fact, the controversy over Drama largely comes down to a single panel.
Drama, pg. 188.
You see, a couple of the middle school boys come out as gay and later, when a crisis hits the cast, one takes on an important role and kisses another boy on stage. For this, a parent of an elementary student in Cheyenne, Wyoming, wishes to remove the book from the school library. And he does not even pretend to any basis other than the LGBTQ content.
“It takes away parents rights to teach morals and values. Praises normalization of the LGBTQ community.”
The simple presence of gay characters is an affront to parental rights because “the book [imposes] morals and values that conflict with primary families views.” How it does so is never explained but the implication is clear: the school has a duty to keep children ignorant of the basic existence of gay people. Any depiction of an LGBTQ character is by definition an endorsement and it violates the parent’s right to provide their child with an unstated “value” that gay people should not exist or be recognized in any way. This is an absurd request in part because the school already gave the challenger what he demanded.
In reviewing the book, the building committee considered the stellar reviews and surveyed other area librarians finding that the book was appropriate for 3-4 grade students. In fact, there were 26 copies with more than 800 circulations. Recognizing, as all librarians do, that some people will have different views about what they or their children will read, the committee noted that the child’s account would be tagged with a note forbidding them from checking out any LGBTQ inclusive content. While the committee notes state that the challenger seemed to agree to this solution, it proved unsatisfactory and he continues to seek removal at the district level. A public meeting to that effect will be held on 30 January 2020.
The parent now asserts a right to not only control the reading habits of his child but of every child in the school and district. It is an argument I have discussed many, many times on this blog. The challenger believes that other parents are simply too incompetent to do their job and need his help to be better parents. This is an absurd argument. Having given the parent all that can reasonably be claimed, the power to prevent his child from reading any literature he deems immoral, the issue should be settled. Further, any removal of Drama at this point would raise constitutional problems. Assuming that Board of Education v. Pico (1982) still controls, removal of a book because the school disagrees with the message of the book is unconstitutional. As the book has no vulgarity and is clearly educationally suitable by any objective measure, a removal would have no legitimate basis.
A removal would do more than simply present unconstitutional censorship. It would send a message to the community that LGBTQ students, parents, and community members have no right to be seen in the community. The challenger is correct on one thing: Drama is a normalization of LGBTQ people. The story does not revolve around or dwell on the orientation of the boys in question. It is simply presented in the same way as any other tame middle school romance and, in this way, is thus treated as any part of the normal school day because it is part of a normal day. There is no neutral position between inclusion or exclusion of LGBTQ stories. The choice is between recognizing the equal humanity of our whole community or surrendering to a vocal minority bent on rejecting the place of some members of the community. I certainly hope the district does the correct thing and retains the book that is well-loved by millions of kids across the country.
My public comment submitted to the meeting: I urge you to retain Raina Telgemeier’s Drama in your elementary school libraries. While others will surely have pointed out the potential constitutional problems with a removal based on nothing more than disagreement with the book’s message, my concern is different. The parent has already been given his right to control his daughter’s reading by limiting her ability to check out books. What he demands now is the ability to limit the reading of every other child in school and district; he, in effect, demands to circumvent the parental rights of others. Doing so would send a clear message to your community that LGBTQ people do not belong. To all of your LGBTQ students, to the students from LGBTQ homes, to your LGBTQ staff and community members, you will say that their stories, their voices have no place in your school district. That they are an inherent danger. There is no neutral position between inclusion of your whole community and exclusion of part of it. I would ask that you remember Matthew Shepard and the costs that exclusion risks. I urge you to send a message of inclusion by retaining a wonderful, well-loved story of middle schoolers putting on a play and enjoying their friends for the people they are.
UPDATE 01/31/2020: Local news reported that the district committee also recommended retention of Drama.
