Utah becomes the first state to ban a list of books from all schools: “Dystopian”

The state of Utah has become the first state to completely ban a list of books from schools statewide.

The edict was issued on Friday and is intended to comply with a law that went into effect on July 1st, which says local education agencies must prioritize “protecting children from the harmful effects of illicit pornography over other considerations.”

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Even the state’s Republican attorney general thinks Walters’ demands are illegal.

School boards and the governing boards of charter schools are included in local education agencies. The decision takes away the choice from school teachers, administrators, and librarians, who weigh books based on their artistic, cultural, or educational value.

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Any book that has a description of sex or masturbation is considered banned under the new rule, and must be removed. A local education agency must notify the state board of education when it removes a book. When a book is removed by three school districts or by two school districts and five charter schools, it must be removed across the state.

PEN America Freedom to Read program director Kasey Meehan called it “a dark day for the freedom to read in Utah.” Many of the books on the banned list are from fantasy author Sarah J. Maas’ A Court of Thorn and Roses series, as well as one of her books from her series Throne of Glass.

Other books banned are Forever by Judy Blume, a graphic novel about a boy moving away from Christianity called Blankets by Craig Thompson, and Tilt, by Ellen Hopkins, which centers three teenagers navigating teen pregnancy and a romantic relationship between two young men, one of whom is HIV positive. Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel Oryx and Crake and Rupi Kaur’s poetry collection Milk and Honey are also banned.

The ban is unique in the country, which has seen a rapid increase in attempts to ban books, because it is the first time a state is requiring all schools to remove a list of titles.

“This is different,” said Jonathan Friedman, the managing director of the U.S. Free Expression Programs at PEN America. “This is literally the government saying that Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood, cannot be shelved in public schools.”

PEN America strongly condemned the move, which is one of several that restrict book access and will take effect this summer.

“The state’s No-Read List will impose a dystopian censorship regime across public schools and, in many cases, will directly contravene local preferences. Allowing just a handful of districts to make decisions for the whole state is antidemocratic, and we are concerned that implementation of the law will result in less diverse library shelves for all Utahns.”

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