The Biden administration introduced several new safeguards for LGBTQ children and households on Thursday, namely the appointment of a supervisor to “lead the battle” against book bans in schools, according to administration officials.
According to Neera Tanden, a White House domestic policy adviser, the Education Department coordinator, who has not yet been named, would instruct districts of schools and inform them that prohibiting books “might break federal civil laws if it would produce an unfriendly atmosphere for students.”
Based on PEN America’s Index of School Book Bans, there were about 1,500 cases of prohibiting books in schools in the 1st half of this school year, impacting 874 various titles. This is a rise of almost 30% from the same time last year.
As reported by PEN, LGBTQ characters or themes are present in over a quarter of the prohibited literature. This year, the most restrictions on books were enacted in the states of Texas, Florida, Missouri, Utah, and South Carolina.