Conservative Muslims join forces with Christian right on Michigan book bans – By Tom Perkins (The Guardian) / Oct 16, 2022
‘This has nothing to do with Trump,’ a parent says, as people pressure officials to censor books with LGBTQ+ themes
A recent school board meeting at which about 1,000 people gathered in Dearborn, Michigan, to pressure district officials to censor books with LGBTQ+ themes was in most ways similar to hundreds of other recent book ban hearings across the US.
Speakers alleged the books “promote mental health issues” and “self harm”, while the school district and liberals were seeking to “indoctrinate children”. Gay people, they said, were “creeps and pedohiles”, and gay lifestyles were equated with zoophilia.
“American values and the American way is not child pornography,” one angry parent told the Dearborn public school board.
But the speakers were not the white, rightwing conservative Christians usually behind efforts to censor literature in public schools. Instead, the heated audience was almost all Muslim Arab Americans.
CONTINUE > https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/16/dearborn-michigan-book-bans
