The statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights organization Silver State Equality said two of its representatives who spoke at a Washoe County School Board meeting to oppose book bans had to leave the meeting due “to safety concerns after being harassed — blocked from returning to their seats, and subjected to derogatory comments, with one person even laying hands on them under the guise of praying.”
The group called behavior at the meeting in which speakers read from passages in books available at some local schools they deemed unacceptable “abhorrent and inexcusable.”
A speaker was forcefully escorted from the podium after he declined to stop reading a passage as asked, leading to chants from others taking part in a heated public comment session.
The meeting went into recess twice, including when North Carolina pastor John Amanchukwu, a regular at these types of meetings across the country, started reading passages from "American Psycho."
“Many Washoe County parents support the First Amendment and believe that diverse representation in literature fosters acceptance and a love of learning. In addition, they also support Washoe County School District’s existing parental choice program, which allows parents to monitor and restrict specific titles, genres, and themes. This support was evident in the approximately 40 public comments submitted via email, none of which supported book bans. Banning books effectively bans the people and communities they represent, echoing historical dark periods that should not be repeated,” Silver State Equality wrote in a statement sent out this morning.
It concluded by urging the Washoe County School District “to keep books in school libraries, ensuring they remain safe spaces for learning, exploration, and representation.”
In other school board related news, elected District B Trustee, whose term expires in 2027, Coleen Westlake, was censured and “removed” from the Washoe County Republican Party by its central committee at a meeting earlier this week at Boomtown casino.
A resolution indicated she allegedly “hurt the Republican brand, Republican values, Republicans as a whole, the community in general and, in particular and of most concern, all Washoe County students and their parents.”
The Washoe County branch has also recently kicked out County Commissioner Clara Andriola, for not being “Republican enough,” and voting too often with Democrats, even though both Andriola and Westlake remain Republicans.