Marietta school board upholds decision to ban book titled 'Flamer'
Marietta School Board upholds banned book
The latest chapter on the battle over books in one metro Atlanta school district has reached its conclusion, for now. The Marietta School Board voted to uphold the removal of a book called "Flamer" from its high school library. Some parents complained that the book, about a gay teenager struggling with his identity, was too sexually explicit for teens. Other parents argue the ban amounts to censorship of LGBTQ+ literature.
COBB COUNTY, Ga. - The school board in Marietta voted 6-1 on Thursday morning to uphold the decision to remove the book "Flamer" from shelves at Marietta High School.
"Flamer" is an award-winning graphic novel about a gay teenager struggling with his identity while at summer camp. The book's 14-year-old protagonist, Aiden has his first male crush while at camp but also faces severe bullying and alienation.
The author, Mike Curato, based the book on his own experiences as a gay Filipino Boy Scout, and it is now one of the most-banned books in school libraries in the nation.
"This is extremely inappropriate. It goes beyond what is normal kids are saying," said Becky Simmons, a parent who showed up in support of the ban. "Our tax dollars should not be paying for pornographic material."
Parent Kayla Sargent appealed the decision to remove the book, which led to the special meeting on Thursday.
"If you actually read the book, you see right away that it’s not sexually explicit," Sargent said. "It’s certainly not pornographic."
However, the board overwhelmingly voted sexuality isn’t a topic high school students should be reading about on the taxpayer’s dime.
PREVIOUS STORY: 2 books with 'sexually explicit' content pulled from Cobb County school libraries
In the last few years, conservative groups have appealed to school boards across the country to get them to remove books talking about sexuality, gender, and race.
An organization advocating for free speech called PEN American counted more than 4,000 similar bans between 2021 and 2022, The Associated Press has reported.
At the Marietta school board meeting, board member Jason Waters said he didn’t think the way "Flamer" mentioned suicidal thoughts was appropriate either.
"It could be useful for some kids, just in the library I don’t [think it should be]," he said.
But Sargent pointed out that the teens in the novel were intended to disproportionately take their own lives.
"If you look at the statistics on adolescent mental health right now, the suicide rate are increasing. Not decreasing," she said. "Particularly among Queer and children of Color."
FOX 5 visited several local Cobb County Public Library locations to see the book firsthand, but a librarian said each copy in every branch had been already checked out and there’s a waitlist of more than three dozen names.
Meanwhile, Waters said moving forward he anticipates the removal of more books from Marietta public schools’ libraries.
"Might there be more? Sure. Is it going to be a massive amount? I really don’t think so. That was never the intent of this."