Maryland School Board Resists State’s Attempt to Override Removal of Explicit LGBT Book

Calvin Freiburger : Nov 24, 2025
LifeSiteNews.com

A local school board is appealing after the Maryland State Board of Education stepped in to override its decision.

[LifeSiteNews.com] A local Maryland school board is locked in a struggle with state education officials over its prerogative to decide what books don’t belong in its school libraries. (Image via Pixabay)

The College Fix reported that the Harford County Board of Education voted in June to ban the book Flamer by Mike Curato, an illustrated, semi-autobiographical story about a teen struggling with homosexual feelings that LifeSiteNews has previously reported “includes images of naked teenage boys and descriptions of genitals, sexual behavior, profanity, and derogatory terms.”

The book has been a subject of controversy across various schools and libraries since its release, with defenders arguing that, as the author himself says, it’s “about suicidal ideation and prevention (…) because I know that there are kids out there right now who are going through exactly what I went through.” But Harford board vice president Lauren Paige argues simply that “if something is too explicit to be read aloud in the classroom, it shouldn’t be sitting on a library shelf for minors. That’s not censorship, that’s responsibility.”

Last month, the Maryland State Board of Education got involved, voting to overturn the local board’s decision, which not only kept the original controversy over the book itself going but set off a new debate over state government overriding local decision-making.

“The job of the board of education is to reflect the values of the community. What’s the purpose of a county board of education if it’s going to be overridden by the state? Just have the state run it all,” board member Mark Korn objected... Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

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