Florida's Charlotte County school district has just banned a giant portion of the global library. The district's superintendent issued guidance that Gov. Ron DeSantis' "Don't Say Gay" law requires all books with LGBTQ characters to be removed even if the book contains no sexually explicit content. If a character in a book is so much mentioned as not being a CIS-gendered heterosexual, the book "cannot exist."
These books immediately come to mind: Harry Potter, Interview with a Vampire, most Greek literature, and histories of modern computing, science, medicine, entertainment, and pretty much everything. So, all books.
The guidance made clear that all books with LGBTQ characters are to be removed even if the book contained no sexually explicit content. The librarians asked if they could retain books in school and classroom libraries with LGBTQ characters "as long as they do not have explicit sex scenes or sexual descriptions and are not approaching 'how to' manuals for how to be an LGBTQ+ person." The guidance provided by Vianello and McKinely was: "No. Books with LBGTQ+ characters are not to be included in classroom libraries or school library media centers."
Vianello and McKinley also advised teachers must ensure that books with LGBTQ characters and themes do not enter the classroom, even if they are self-selected by students for silent reading. According to Vianello and McKinley, books with "[t]hese characters and themes cannot exist."
