Is this really appropriate in school?

School Superintendent Defends Gay Porno Book as Art When Mother Finds It Displayed Prominently In Son's School

The Superintendent of North Kingstown High School in Rhode Island seems to believe that displays of gay sex in a children’s book are akin to DaVinci or Michaelangelo, or at least that’s what he told one concerned mother who discovered a book filled with sexually explicit drawings displayed in the school where it could be seen prominently. As first reported by The Federalist, one mother reported the school to the police for advertising a gay pornography book meant for children and young adults titled “Gender Queer: A Memoir.” As Erika Sanzi pointed out on her Substack blog, the book contains images of graphic scenes of gay sex and oral sex as well as a girl encouraged to “taste” herself by her own siblings. While we will not post the images here, you can click on the link to the substack blog to see them yourself.

I have read both works, and I feel it is important to see these images and quotations in context of the full text. Gender Queer is available in our library, is intended for a teenage and young adult audience, and in my opinion would be considered a valuable resource for someone who is working through issues of sexual identity and/or identifying as transgender. I do not consider the book to be pornographic. With pornography there is an intent stimulate erotic rather than aesthetic or emotional feelings. It is the reason images of in a Playboy magazine would be considered pornographic, but a statue from Michaelangelo, sexual images in an anatomy textbook, or sexual references in health class discussion or in many works of literature would not.

Now I am no prude. Have no problem with our children being exposed to adult content that might be sexual in nature. But not sure that pictures of sexual acts as a means to understanding gay sexuality is any more or less necessary than providing pictures of heterosexual sex acts in order to teach someone about heterosexual relationships. We can teach children about the variety of sexuality without actually showing pictures of people engaging in the acts.

But it just seems like some people cannot leave well enough alone. They just need to constantly push every envelope and rattle whatever feathers they can to prove some sort of point. As if being a major asswipe who pisses all sorts of people off is considered to be a positive trait in some circles. Of course, this is the person who will run to the press and become all enraged if they experience any negative comments from anyone. People are harassing me! Make is stop!