Judge orders Defense Department to return books on race & gender to school shelves - LGBTQ Nation

"According to the ACLU, books "quarantined" by DoDEA schools included classics like To Kill a Mockingbird and Fahrenheit 451, more recent titles like The Kite Runner, A Queer History of the United States, the children's book Julián Is a Mermaid, and even Vice President JD Vance's 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy. Lawyers for the DOD reportedly argued that the removals constituted "government speech" and thus were shielded from First Amendment scrutiny."

"U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles's October 20 decision grants a preliminary injunction sought by 12 students who attend DoDEA schools, blocking the agency from enforcing three of President Donald Trump's anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-DEI executive orders and requiring schools to return nearly 600 books to classroom and library shelves while the case proceeds. The complaint named DoDEA director Beth Schiavino-Narvaez and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth as defendants."

DoDEA operates schools for more than 67,000 military-connected children and removed books and censored curricula related to race and gender after three executive orders from President Donald Trump. U.S. District Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles granted a preliminary injunction for 12 DoDEA students on October 20, blocking enforcement of the three executive orders and requiring nearly 600 books be returned to classrooms and libraries while litigation continues. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the complaint in April on behalf of the students and families, alleging removal of materials referencing slavery, civil rights, race, ethnicity, immigration, diversity, sexual orientation, and gender identity. The Defense Department argued the removals constituted government speech.

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