Moms for Liberty founders: ‘No one is looking to ban books’

(NewsNation) — As efforts to restrict books in school libraries have intensified over the past year, the founders of one of the groups spearheading the effort reject the idea they’re seeking to ban books, but are simply trying to make sure children don’t have access to adult-oriented material.

Moms for Liberty has been at the forefront of the movement that has seen a wave of local school boards and state legislatures take action on what they say is inappropriate material for children. Opponents suggest the restrictions are undemocratic and in some cases target the LGBTQ community.

The founders of Moms for Liberty, Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich, rejected the idea they’re trying to “ban” books during an appearance Tuesday on NewsNation’s “CUOMO.”

“No one is looking to ban books. Moms for Liberty certainly isn’t. You should write the book. You should print the book. You should publish the book. You should sell the book. The book should go into to the public library in your community if taxpayers want to pay for it,” Justice said. “What we’re talking about is curating content in a library. You wouldn’t have the same books in a medical college that you would in a seminary, and just because a book is printed doesn’t mean that it belongs in a children’s library.”

The most recent push to remove books has impacted stories about LGBTQ people and race, according to data collected by PEN America.

The organization defines a book ban as “any action taken against a book based on its content and as a result of parent or community challenges, administrative decisions, or in response to direct or threatened action by lawmakers or other governmental officials, that leads to a previously accessible book being either completely removed from availability to students, or where access to a book is restricted or diminished.”

During the first half of the 2022-2023 school year, there were nearly 1,500 instances of book banning, Pen America said. That represents a 28% increase over the previous six months from January to June 2022.

Among the almost 900 unique books taken off the shelves, 44% have themes of violence, 38% involve health and well-being, 30% have themes of death and grief, 30% discuss racism and have characters of color, 26% include LGBTQ themes and characters, 24% had to do with sexual experiences between characters and 17% dealt with teen pregnancy and abortion. 

“The problem with the books that our chapters across the country have concerns with is that they are obscene and pornographic,” Descovich said. “This has nothing to do with if it’s male and male, female and female, or male and female.”

As an example, Descovich read an excerpt from “My Body is Growing: A Guide for Children, Ages 4 to 8” that includes a vivid description of sex.

The passage reads: “Sabrina’s vagina becomes moist and warm and Marco’s penis gets very stiff. Marco then pushes his penis into Sabrina’s vagina. Always in and out. That feels great for both of them.”

“This is appropriate for 4- to 8-year-olds?” Descovich said. “This is found in grade schools all across the country.”

The book made headlines last year when it infuriated parents who confronted the book’s author on Twitter, the Sun reported.

Justice and Descovich were featured in a “CBS Sunday Morning” segment this week about school book bans, which were criticized by leaders of libraries and the American Library Association.

Linda Johnson, president and CEO of the Brooklyn Public Library, suggested in the CBS story that bans are a “death knell for democracy.”

Moms for Liberty claimed CBS didn’t show “porn images” from the books in question during the segment that aired Sunday. Federal Communications Commission regulations prohibit obscene material from being shown on television broadcasts.

In their NewsNation interview, Justice and Descovich were asked by host Chris Cuomo about concerns over who should be the arbiters of what’s appropriate for children, and how much material should be restricted and at what age.

“Where do you draw the line? And who gets to draw it?” Cuomo asked.

“Let’s set the bar really, really low. Let’s just say no pornographic material, no rape, no incest, no pornography,” Justice said.

Another book Justice and Descovich referenced is “Gender Queer,” a graphic memoir by Maia Kobabe that includes descriptions of rape. It topped the American Library Association’s list of most challenged books in 2022.

“All parents, whether you think this should be in schools or not, you should be coming to the table, you should be going to your school board meetings, you should be sharing your concerns and your opinion, and that is the way our government is expected to work,” Descovich said. “What’s happening in America today is if you don’t go along with this type of material, you’re getting cut off, you’re getting shut down.”