In the May 13 edition of Long Island Life and Politics (LILP), we reported about parents’ complaints regarding pornographic books being allowed on the shelves of the Bayport-Blue Point High School Library by the school board and superintendent.
Numerous parents, outraged at the content, petitioned the board to remove two blatantly obscene books, Gender Queer and All Boys Aren’t Blue. The content can be seen at the parent website www.USPOPIS.com (Parents Opposed to Pornography in Schools).
The board remained defiant in claiming that the books would remain on the shelves and accessible to our kids.
When we at LILP first heard from parents that the school board was promoting pornography in their school library, we thought they must be exaggerating. No sensible school board would allow smut to be peddled to the children of the district. But when we saw photos and excerpts from the books, our jaws dropped. We were flabbergasted. The book Gender Queer contained explicit drawings of minors performing oral sex on each other. The book All Boys Aren’t Blue had explicit passages of a 13-year-old boy expressing the joy he experienced having sex with his underage male cousin. The book explained in great detail the different types of sex — oral, anal and masturbation — that they engaged in with each other.
Members of the community reached out to the superintendent and the school board president, Michael Miller, asking if they would ask the board to reconsider, given that community opposition was starting to swell. Both respectfully claimed that the books would remain on the shelf.
There was a reaching out to elected officials within the Bayport-Blue Point School District to see if they would be supportive of the parents or would support the board position to keep this pornography in our schools.
Here’s the results of our call:
New York State Senator Dean Murray
The true hero in responding to the parents’ concerns was New York State Senator Dean Murray, who immediately agreed that this type of obscenity should not be accessible to our children. Senator Murray is writing an op-ed in support of the parents group, and also is promoting legislation that would require that parents be contacted before this type of material can be given to the children. Senator Murray gets an A+ from the parents.
Suffolk County Legislator Anthony Piccirillo
Legislator Piccirillo was very responsive to our phone calls and expressed support for the parents. He was not able to attend the parents meeting, but asked to be kept in the loop.
Islip Town Councilman John Lorenzo
A similar response was given by Islip Town Councilman John Lorenzo.
Brookhaven Town Councilman Neil Foley
Mr. Foley was responsive to our calls and asked to be kept in the loop.
NYS Senator Alexis Weik
Senator Weik, who represents the Bayport area of the district, was responsive to phone calls. She expressed a hesitancy to sign the parents’ petition or to get out in front on the matter and was asking instead that the matter be researched to determine if the board had the discretion to remove the books. She was told quite definitively that the board does have that ability. She has not yet taken a stand to support the parents, but did send a representative to the meeting. We are holding out hope that she will become more aggressive in this matter, as has Senator Murray.
NYS State Assemblyman Jarett Gandolfo
Assemblyman Gandolfo, who represents both Bayport and Blue Point, refused to return phone calls from a parent representative. We have to assume that he is supporting the school board’s decision to keep this pornography on the shelves of our schools.
Suffolk County Legislator Dominick Thorne
Suffolk County Legislator Dominick Thorne, who represents Blue Point, also refused to return phone calls from a parent representative, leading us to conclude he is wishing not to take a stand.