Concerning the current matter before the Maine School Administrative District 6 Board of Directors:

“Amendment I: Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech … .”

While our Constitution is clear that the banning of books is not something we as a country support, time and again people who attack our nation and its freedoms attempt to do so. Unfortunately, many of the attacks come from within our own communities.

The proposed banning from SAD 6 libraries of the books “It’s Perfectly Normal” and “Gender Queer” should be struck down in its entirety as an affront to our Constitution, an affront to our children and an affront to humanity at large.

Our children should be able to access all the knowledge they need about the world they live in, and about the bodies they inhabit, and what better place than the safe space of a school library to find all manner of information?

They might learn about bigotry and how to avoid it.

They might learn about the dangers of a police state, let’s say North Korea for now, dictating the books you can read.

They might learn about the dangers of a rampant political agenda, let’s say fascism, desecrating a society.

Or they might just learn that information is a good thing; that libraries and teachers will help in their pursuit of learning, and that they, our children, are enough just as they are.

I stand with the children of SAD 6 in opposition to the banning of books.

Sarah Pinault
Buxton