“Sex is a Funny Word” by Cory Silverberg and Fiona Smyth is a sex education book its authors say is geared toward children between eight and 10 years old.
The Summit County Library Board of Directors unanimously decided not to remove it from its shelves Sept. 17. The board was responding to a parent who filed a complaint over how the book characterizes gender.
A few people argued against removing the book, including Snyderville Basin resident Lesley Christoph, who said she is against censorship.
“It's not about whether I, or anyone else, likes or dislikes a specific title. It's about the right of people in our communities to read books that represent a diversity of viewpoints, even if I or you or anyone else disagrees with them,” she said.
The Park City chapter of Let Utah Read also submitted a comment in favor of keeping the book. The group has campaigned against a state law allowing public schools to prohibit access to books the law defines as obscene.
As of Sept. 18, 37 titles have been banned from public school shelves in Utah because three or more school districts voted to remove them. Authors are suing to overturn the law.
“Sex is a Funny Word” hasn’t been banned in public schools. The anonymous parent’s complaint to Summit County appears to focus on the book’s treatment of gender.
The book does not treat gender as binary, and the parent’s complaint reads, “There is only 2 genders!”
Library board member Heather Hoyt said before the Sept. 17 vote that she read the book and didn’t like it either, albeit for unrelated reasons.
“Even though I didn't like this book, and even though I really recognize the comment — [the parent] sounded very, very angry. And I can recognize that anger, but that's not the whole perspective,” she said. “The library serves so many different people.”
Other library board members also reviewed the book and found it to be age appropriate.
County Councilmember Megan McKenna, a nonvoting board member, recounted what a librarian recently told her.
“She said, ‘a book challenge is a sign of a healthy library,’ and I hadn't heard that before,” McKenna said. “The more I think about it, I really do appreciate that our library here in Summit County is able to offer a variety of materials.”
For Christoph, keeping the book on library shelves keeps parents in the driver’s seat.
“Removing a book from a public library is making that decision for all families and is interfering with parental rights as to how best to educate and inform their children,” she said during public comment. “It's subjective and an active form of censorship. It goes against our fundamental rights to free speech and free exchange of ideas.”
No one spoke in favor of removing the book during public comment.
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