Stop book banning

“An NBC News investigation found that the Katy Independent School District is one of at least a dozen Texas districts that have removed books from public school libraries after a statewide surge of parent complaints. Many of the books focus on themes of gender, race, and sexuality. Record requests to nearly 100 districts found that during the first four months of this school year, parents made at least 75 formal complaints, compared to one filed during the same period last year.” As a current high school student, who loves and enjoys reading all types of books. I absolutely believe that any book that has the theme of gender, race, and sexuality and is a young adult book should not be censored, or banned from high school libraries. I believe that every student has the right to freely read any book and make their own choices whether to agree or disagree with the values/ beliefs/ topics of the book. In this Austin American Statesman article by Nusaiba Mizan titled “Fact-check: Are some books being banned from Texas schools, while 'Mein Kampf' is allowed?” It compares how the majority of books being banned in Texas high schools are centered around LGBTQ themes while other certain books like “"1984" by George Orwell, about a dystopian totalitarian government that censors information, brainwashes citizens, and persecutes them for individualist, critical thinking.” or even "Mein Kampf," Adolf Hitler's anti-Semitic political manifesto.” have not been banned in Texas libraries statewide, can really just show how parents don't want their children to read books that have values that the parents themselves don't agree with as this one Austin Texas parent named Marry Ellen said “What we’re talking about is vulgarity that is inappropriate for any child, I don't care what your ideology is and your child is precious and needs to be guarded” However banning or censoring any book, will not stop the values or beliefs of that book from being talked about or shared, and some real consequences of banning these LGBTQ+ books are students like Iris Chang, attending one of these Austin Texas high schools where book banning is taking place, shares her experience of when she first read a book that she saw herself in saying “It was compelling to see this accurate portrayal of what my culture looks like and what I as a person represent” and if these books are banned, students may lose themselves in not seeing themselves represented in today's society.