The Madison Metropolitan School District in Madison, Wisconsin purchased more than 12,000 books in 2022, including some of the more controversial titles in the country.
“Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe, which NBC News referred to as “one of the most-banned books in the U.S.,” was one of dozens of titles purchased by the school district last year. Other books include such titles as “A kids book about being non-binary,” “A kids about about being transgender,” “A kids book about immigration,” “A kids book about systemic racism,” “White Supremacy, a guided journal,” “Queer: the ultimate LGBTQ guide of teens,” “Queer ducks (and other animals) the natural world of animal sexuality,” as well as numerous other books exploring the issue of gender and white supremacy.
The Iowa Standard ran screen shots of images of pages from the book “Gender Queer” of characters in the book that are very graphic. It has a “heterosexual” hand-drawn character describing why they enjoy lesbian porn more than gay porn. It includes a multiple-panel sequence of young adults engaged in oral intercourse. The main character also discusses sex toys and how they would like to use them in detail.
Madison’s public school district had dozens of libraries located throughout its elementary, middle school and high school buildings. The school district did not respond to multiple attempts to find out what students have access to the books and whether the books were part of the school curriculum.
“In the Madison School district, implementing a woke agenda in the classroom is apparently more important than giving kids even a basic education. How about teaching students reading and math skills rather than watch them fall further behind while spending money on inappropriate books aimed at extreme, liberal social engineering?” Mark Jefferson, executive director of the Wisconsin Republican Party, told Chalkboard Review. “Start giving kids a decent education.”
