Erika Jacobsen White and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Maryland recently filed a responsive brief on behalf of a Harford County Public Schools parent in an ongoing appeal involving the award-winning graphic novel Flamer by Mike Curato.
The brief asks the court to uphold a Maryland State Board of Education decision allowing Flamer—a novel about an LGBTQ youth navigating identity, acceptance, and belonging—to remain on school library shelves. Ms. Jacobsen White and the ACLU argue that the Harford County Board of Education removed the book without sufficient factual or legal support and, since then, the State Board correctly reinstated it pursuant to the Maryland Freedom to Read Act.
“This is a critical appeal recognizing the Maryland Freedom to Read Act’s important mandate to prevent censorship on the basis of discriminatory, partisan, ideological, or religious disapproval. Intolerance and hate have no place in our schools,” Ms. Jacobsen White said.
