Florida school board member: 'I'm disgusted' by pornographic books on the shelves
Ashley Gilhousen, a Clay County School Board member, demanded disciplinary action on pornographic books in the district's libraries in an interview with Fox News Digital.
A Florida school board member said she was "disgusted" by the pornographic books available to kids and described a race against time to remove them before the start of the 2022-2023 school year.
"I don't think there's any justification for it. And I can tell you my own research in our school library so far I've identified 75 books that I'm working to challenge to get off of ourselves," Ashley Gilhousen of the Clay County School District board told Fox News Digital. She added that she believed "disciplinary action" was appropriate to address those responsible for placing pornographic and otherwise inappropriate books in front of kids in public schools.
"I'm disgusted that anybody would think that that's appropriate material to have in a school library," the mom of three Clay County public school boys, said. "There needs to be disciplinary action for anybody who offers this kind of material to a child."
A Clay County School Board member, Ashley Gilhousen, discussed pornographic books in Florida school libraries. (Fox News Digital)
One of the books Gilhousen mentioned was "Lawn Boy" by Jonathan Evison, which describes a boy recalling oral sex from when he was "ten years old."
Another book, "Julian is a Mermaid" is for elementary-aged children and is regarded as an introductory text to gender fluidity. The boy repeatedly strips down to his underwear. Later, he puts on lipstick and dons a headdress. He is then given costume jewelry before being taken to the NYC Mermaid Parade where he can freely express himself.
Another book formerly in the district, "Lucky" by Alice Sebold, discussed details of a college girl being raped.
Gilhousen said that some of the fault lies with media specialists who meet with publishers to bring in books for school libraries. Publishers may present a list of top-selling books they recommend for kids, which will then be ordered, or, Gilhousen explained, the publishers will add in "bonus books" into an order.
Dad accuses Florida's Clay County School District of having inappropriate books in its libraries. (Fox News)
"Some of those are more politically driven agenda-type books are snuck in that way," Gilhousen explained.
Gilhousen was part of a June 30 meeting that went viral. During the meeting, a dad named Bruce Friedman attempted to read passages from pornographic books in the district's library – but had his microphone abruptly cut off.
Later in the meeting, the board adopted a state of emergency, which created a "mechanism so that as soon as a book is challenged, it's removed from the shelf until it's reviewed."
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"We need to create a mechanism that spells out very plainly who is held accountable for the books that are on the shelves. And it obviously starts with the library media center specialists, but those purchases are then signed off by the principal who is then accountable to the superintendent," she said. "I don't understand how anybody could make such an egregious mistake."