(LifeSiteNews) — The head of one of the largest teachers’ unions in the United States is promoting a “banned bookmobile” tour giving away to children books containing pornographic images.
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) posted video footage of its president, Randi Weingarten, decrying “book bans” during a fiery speech promoting a Banned Bookmobile tour by MoveOn, a leftist public policy advocacy group.
The multi-state tour was launched in response to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ ban on sexually explicit and developmentally inappropriate books in schools and aims to ensure that “as many as people as possible” have a chance to read “banned” books.
Visible among the books being given away to children during the tour is Gender Queer: A Memoir. As the X account Libs of TikTok has highlighted, the book discusses and contains graphic images of gay sex, oral sex, masturbation, sex toys, and chest binders.
Randi Weingarten, president of one of the largest teacher’s unions in the US, joined a “banned bookmobile tour” where they encouraged kids to read “banned books.”
One book is “Gender Queer” which discusses chest binders, masturbation, sex toys, gay sex, and blowjobs.
These are… https://t.co/gCepfjNWuT pic.twitter.com/3qvBpRX6xs
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) July 14, 2023
Dan Kleinman of SafeLibraries called for the arrest of Weingarten, accusing her teacher’s union of partnering with the American Library Association to “sexualize school kids.”
“Her giving these books to kids outside of school is illegal,” Kleinman wrote, alluding to laws prohibiting exposing minors to pornography. It is a violation of federal law to expose minors to obscene materials.
Several commentators labeled the efforts to distribute books like Gender Queer as child “grooming” for pedophiles.
“Call them what they are. They are groomers. They want children to explore this depth of sexual depravity so young so they can ‘consent’ to pedophiles,” Jay Hemingway tweeted.
Call them what they are. They are groomers. They want children to explore this depth of sexual depravity so young so they can “consent” to pedophiles. They literally are doing the work for the pedophiles by working so damn hard to put this in children’s faces. I can’t believe…
— Jay Hemingway (@JayJ228) July 14, 2023
During the Banned Bookmobile tour speech, Weingarten compared DeSantis with “autocrat[s]” and accused him of banning books “in such a way” as to “create fear,” without referencing his intention to protect children from sexually explicit material.
Earlier this year, the Florida governor said the narrative accusing him of book-banning is a “nasty hoax” that has been used “in service of trying to pollute and sexualize our children.”
In a move highlighting DeSantis’ rationale for culling inappropriate materials from schools, a local Florida television channel stopped its live video feed earlier this year when the governor presented a video highlighting some of the sexually explicit books reportedly pulled from the shelves of Florida’s public school libraries.
“If these materials are not appropriate to show on the news, are they appropriate for children to be reading?” Bryan Griffin, DeSantis’ press secretary, told the Daily Caller News at the time.
The Banned Bookmobile tour is planned to end in Florida, where anyone who exposes minors to pornography is guilty of a first-degree misdemeanor.
The AFT is not alone among educational groups in promoting sexually explicit books for minors. The National Education Association, America’s largest teacher’s union, has also promoted Gender Queer as one of their top recommended “Great Summer Reads for Educators!”
The American Library Association (ALA) has promoted hundreds of books challenged for controversial content, including LGBT and sexually explicit themes, and has gone so far as to honor the book Gender Queer with the Alex Awards in 2020.
While slamming MoveOn and AFT’s support for distributing pornographic material to children, observers have criticized the Bookmobile’s inclusion of books such as To Kill a Mockingbird and The Hunger Games among the list of banned material as “disingenuous,” since virtually no schools are banning these books.