A Nashville-area school district voted this week to remove transgender books for children from school libraries after questions about the book's content were raised at last month's board meeting.
During the public comment section of the Dec. 10 Murfreesboro Board of Education meeting, pastor and activist John K. Amanchuk announced that the picture book “It's OK to Be Yourself'' would be on the shelf at Bradley Academy Elementary School. He blamed the school district for placing the . Schools within the school district that serve students from preschool through sixth grade.
According to the description, the book introduces the concept of gender identity to readers as young as 4 years old.
“Some are boys, some are girls, some are both, some are neither, and some are in between,” it says.
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A Tennessee school district voted Tuesday to remove transgender children's books from library shelves. (Getty Images)
The book tells the story of a transgender girl, “Lucy,” and introduces terms like “cisgender” and “non-binary” to explain different gender identities to young readers.
After Mr. Amanchukwu began reading the book, board president Butch Campbell objected to the pastor bringing it up at meetings, saying it was a violation of the rule to only bring up topics in the public comment section. .
pastor continued reading He called the book's message that there is more than one gender a “lie” and cited the Book of Genesis.
The board forcibly adjourned the meeting about two minutes after Amanchuk tried to stop him from speaking.
Pastor John Amanchuk of North Carolina previously spoke at a Wake County Board of Education meeting. (Wake County Board of Education/Screenshot)
At the Board of Education meeting on January 14th this week's meetingthe board announced that a transgender-themed book was reviewed by a committee of staff and parents who recommended that the book be removed.
One board member said the book had been on the shelf since 2022, but had never been checked out.
Before conducting the vote, Vice Chair Amanda Moore accused Mr. Amanchuk of putting on a “show” to get the book to attention in the district.
Amanchuk is a contributor to Turning Point USA and travels the country attending various school board meetings to draw attention to explicit books in school libraries.
“This person had been advertising his visit to us for weeks before he came. Even though he came and yelled at us about this dangerous book we had on our shelves, “We never contacted the central office, we never contacted this committee,” committee chair Amanda Moore said, adding that the board removed the book from the library shelves. He said this before voting to remove it.
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A child reads a book at the Valencia Branch of the Santa Clarita Public Library on Sunday, November 1, 2015 in Santa Clarita, California, USA. (Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Amanchuk responded to the board's decision and comments in a statement to FOX News Digital.
“If my commitment to protecting children from mentally raping content is a 'show'…I hope that by 2025, this 'show' will be big for even the smallest of children.” Amanchuk said.
He quotes Proverbs 22:6: “Bring up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”
“We are called to train our children, not spoil them,” his statement continued. “I commend the trustees for using common sense in managing the education of Murfreesboro City Schools students.”
This month, a Minnesota school district removed transgender books from elementary school libraries after pressure from concerned parents.
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Rochester Public Schools announced last month that it removed Emily Nielson's 2022 book “Rainbow Parade” from the elementary school media center after parents at Franklin Elementary School raised concerns about nude illustrations in the book.
