Chants of “ban hate, not books” and “books save lives” poured from a crowd of over 100 demonstrators outside the Harford County Board of Education building Monday night as community members urged the board to reverse its ban of the pro-LGBTQ+ book, “Flamer.”

The young-adult graphic novel delves into a teen boy’s summer at a scout camp in 1995 as he prepares to attend a Catholic high school and struggles with his sexuality. The book has been the target of a nationwide debate about what is appropriate in school libraries.

Harford’s school board voted June 26 to remove the book, overturning the school system’s approval of “Flamer” for middle and high school libraries. It was the board’s first such move after the school system launched a Library Materials Reconsideration Committee last spring.

The push to remove “Flamer” prompted intense backlash from community members who have criticized the board for banning the book “behind closed doors,” and for voiding the committee’s process for removing books.

“The review committee is a well-balanced body and qualified professionals, representing a full spectrum of social and political views,” Rita Scharmann said to board members. “Board members overriding this body defeats the purpose of the committee and substitutes individual board members, political views and personal bias rather than well-developed community consensus.”

Scharmann was one of over 80 speakers who moved from the rally outside into the board meeting to address members during public comment. Because of the number of speakers, meeting officials reduced the allotted time for each speaker from three minutes, down to just one.

Demonstrators wearing purple shirts filled the meeting room to capacity, leaving their signs condemning book banning and emphasizing the importance books serve to kids, either outside or on the ground during the meeting.

The demonstration was organized by local chapters of the grassroots organization, Together We Will. Delane Lewis, president of Together We Will, said the purpose of the rally was to show board members that the community does not approve of their actions.

“This board is sending the message that they don’t support you if you’re a part of the LGBTQ community and that they want you to hide and be ashamed,” Lewis said at the rally. “That is unacceptable. We all have family and friends that are a part of that community and they deserve to be seen, heard, respected and protected.”

The majority speakers who addressed the board shared similar thoughts in their opposition to the board’s removal of “Flamer.”

Speakers cited the danger of limiting the resources students have access to during periods of their lives where they are trying to find themselves, as well as how book banning has been used in the past to control narratives and push harmful agendas.

“Banning books is not just about taking titles off of shelves, it is about silencing voices, erasing stories and controlling what people are allowed to think,” said former teacher Ronnie Davis.

Davis explained that teachers have the power to “open doors for students” to spark curiosity. She said teachers have the responsibility to give children the tools to think for themselves and that every book is an opportunity for children to better understand the world.

“When we start closing those doors, we don’t just limit our children, we limit our future,” Davis said.

Kurt Doan, president of the Upper Chesapeake Bay Pride Foundation called “Flamer” a resource for queer students and a beacon of hope.

“It’s a story of hope and that’s what I want for any queer kid living in any rural community — to know that despite how dark it gets, that there is hope and there are people there to support them,” Doan said.

He explained that the board members appointed by County Executive Bob Cassilly that voted in favor of removing “Flamer” — Board President Aaron Poynton, Vice President Lauren Paige and former appointed board member Terri Kocher — are not accountable to anyone other than the county executive.

“I think to remind them that they have a responsibility to listen to the citizens of Harford County and not push their own agenda because that agenda hurts kids,” Doan said. “If you don’t love kids — all kids — you have no business serving on a board of education.”

Just over a dozen of Monday night’s speakers spoke in favor of removing “Flamer” from school libraries, with some calling the book “vulgar.”

Many of those speakers were part of the conservative political organization, Moms for Liberty, and joined the rally outside with signs of their own condemning “pornographic content” in schools.

“I am disgusted that I have to once again stand up here and address the removal of a perverted and immoral book from the public school libraries,” said William Martino, wearing a Moms for Liberty shirt. “This is inappropriate for young minds to be exposed to and it is our jobs as parents to make sure the school is teaching academics and keeping children innocent for as long as possible.”

The controversy over the removal of “Flamer” caught the attention of the book’s author, Mike Curato, who, in a video posted to social media, called the board’s ban of his book “awful” due to Harford’s connection to a key character in the story.

“Its been difficult for me because if you have read ‘Flamer,’ you know Aiden has a pen pal named Violet,” Curato said. “The book is dedicated to my friend Lara and she is my real life Violet. She grew up in Harford County … It feels awful to think of Flamer being banned there because there is a special spot in my heart for it.”

He explained that the letters Aiden received from Violet reflected the letters he received from Lara. Curato thanked the book’s supporters for their efforts and told them to “keep fighting.”

Board President Aaron Poynton stood by the board’s decision to remove the book Monday night, emphasizing that the Harford County Public School procedures require officials to evaluate materials for the “appropriateness for recommended grade levels.” He said removing “Flamer” is not censorship and noted that the book “directly contradicts the school system’s own standards.”

Poynton said that he feels the procedure for removing books from school libraries is flawed and that he intends to work with the school system’s administrators to fix it.

“I oppose censorship. This is about applying age-appropriate standards consistently,” Poynton said, attending the meeting virtually. “The decision was made because Flamer contains graphic sexual references and vulgarity — so explicit that I could not even read the book here without being fined by the FCC because these are on public airwaves.”

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