ProTruthSC

An author responds: Why is sex so scary to book banners? • SC Daily Gazette Commentary from Malinda Lo, the author of one of the books the State Board of Education ruled must be pulled from K-12 library shelves.

My National Book Award-winning novel Last Night at the Telegraph Club was banned statewide in South Carolina because it includes descriptions of "sexual conduct." Why are book banners so scared of sex? I wrote about this in the @scdailygazette.com today.

scdailygazette.com/2025/05/08/w...

I was really hoping SC would rethink its horrible book banning law but they did not. Today, Last Night at the Telegraph Club joins 9 more books that are banned statewide in South Carolina, making SC the #1 state in statewide bans, with 21 titles banned overall. This is a travesty and a tragedy.

NEW: With a State Board of Education vote to remove 10 more books from all K-12 public schools today, South Carolina now leads the nation in state-mandated book bans. www.aclusc.org/en/press-rel...

South Carolina Becomes the Nation's Top Book Banner The State Board of Education bans an additional ten books from all public schools.

South Carolina becomes the nation’s top book banner.

While we were waiting, we spent some time in the lobby reading banned books with our friends from @protruthsc.bsky.social, @midlandsapple.bsky.social, Families Against Book Bans, and Liberation Is Lit 📖

The SC Board of Education is about to come out of over 2 hours in executive session. Presumably they were discussing or receiving legal advice about 43-170, the book ban regulation. Live stream will be here: ed.sc.gov/state-board/...

The State Board of Education meets today, starting with a 9 am committee meeting. Will board members revisit their book banning rule Regulation 43-170, which has led to the removal or restriction of 12 books from all schools so far? Updates in this thread. ed.sc.gov/state-board/...

Education Department stops $1 billion in funding for school mental health Congress created the grants in the aftermath of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. The goal was to help schools hire mental health professionals, including counselors and social workers.

Congress created the grants in the aftermath of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. The goal was to help schools hire mental health professionals, including counselors and social workers.

Graphic contains a slightly more wordy version to the post text. From Freedom to Read SC.

Our SC Board of Education will have an executive session Tues, May 6 to discuss the book ban regulation. Please email your Board rep before that date to urge them to amend the regulation to align with existing state obscenity laws. Email addresses can be found here: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

You can find the agenda here.

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www.ed.sc.gov/state-board/...

A graphic showing Board member Christian Hanley and Superintendent Ellen Weaver, along with the text of this post.

The Board’s next meeting is Tuesday, May 6, 2025 at 11:30 AM

849 Learning Lane West Columbia, SC 29172

Please see our email template for contact information. Reach out to your Board member to thank them for delaying consideration on the 10 challenged books. 1/2

docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Subcommittee members said they received more than 70 messages about this bill. Let's keep them coming. You can submit your comments on H. 4123 to this email address, and your message will go to all 5 subcommittee members:

HJudAICyberSpecialLaws@schouse.gov

ACLU-SC Advocacy Director Josh Malkin: "Voting yes to House Bill 4123 is an enormous and unconstitutional step in the wrong direction."

We Took on Book Bans in Our Small Conservative Community — and Won The documentary Banned Together tells the story of three high school activists in South Carolina.

The new documentary debunks the Trump administration’s blatant lie that Americans are safe from book bans.

3. Requires parents to acknowledge private schools don’t have to follow the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
4. Moves funding source back to the SC Education Lottery
5. Gives Superintendent Weaver power to appoint the trustee overseeing the funds.
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We haven’t had any more time to analyze the amendment than the Senators did, but some observations:
1. Amendment raises eligibility to 300% of federal poverty in year 1 and 500% after that
2. Moves enrollment from Jan to November
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The amendment, which senators have evidently not read passes, and the bill is carried over until the next meeting. The vote: 8/

S. 62 Amendment Senator Hembree proposes the following amendment (SEDU-62.DB0016S): Amend the bill, before the enacting words, by deleting the "whereas" language on page 1, lines 47-50, and page 2, lines 1-20 from th...

Hembree: “Let’s adopt the amendment—“
Jackson: “That we haven’t read yet.” 7/

The current amendment language: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Jackson: “You only mentioned two legislators out of the entire House and Senate bodies who are familiar with this amendment.” (Hembree suggested he and House EPW Chair Shannon Erickson wrote this amendment together.)
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Senator Jackson asks Hembree why the Senate isn’t following its “deliberative process” on this bill. 5/

Ott questions Hembree on the “urgency” of quickly passing this. Hembree acknowledges even if they do pass it, there will likely be a lawsuit and that the funds may not be available. 4/

Ott: “I would venture to say that very few people in this room have read the amendment”. 3/

Senator Russell Ott points out the original Senate version was fast-tracked, bypassed the committee process, and now Senator Hembree and Rep. Erickson have negotiated a new version without public feedback. 2/

The SC Senate is currently discussing S. 62, the private school voucher bill. 1/
www.scstatehouse.gov/video/chambe...

Weaver directs SC education department not to use terms about race and gender 'ideologies' A directive from SC Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver tells her staff in the education department not to use certain language about race and gender.

More from the Post and Courier.
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www.postandcourier.com/education-la...

In a March 14 memo, SC’s Superintendent of Education moved to prohibit representation of and services for transgender students in SC public schools. To transgender, non-binary, and gender-conforming students, friends, family, and neighbors, we see you and are with you. CW: transphobic language. 1/2

Post and Courier headline: Weaver directs SC education department not to use terms about race and gender 'ideologies' By Ian Grenier igrenier@postandcourier.com 4 hrs ago

COLUMBIA — Staff at the S.C. Department of Education have been prohibited from using language related to certain "ideologies" about race or gender in department documents or their communications, according to a March memo from state Superintendent of Education Ellen Weaver. That memo also says the department can't include "gender" or "gender identity" in surveys, forms or other data collection efforts, and can only offer binary options of "male" or "female" when collecting data about sex. The directives comes amid a crackdown on the presence in schools of ideas related to diversity, equity or inclusion from President Donald Trump's new administration, which Weaver cites as prompting her memo. The memo includes what it calls a non-exhaustive list of terms that may not be used for risk of jeopardizing federal funding, including "antiracism," "social-emotional learning," "diversity, equity and inclusion" and "critical theory."

From ACLU-SC Executive Director Jace Woodrum: “Superintendent Weaver may think she is chief of the speech police, but the First Amendment's guarantees do not end at the classroom door. This attempt to limit speech and create a political echo chamber within South Carolina's public school system...

YouTube video by ProTruth South Carolina SC Board of Education Delays Decision on 10 Challenged Books

Highlights from yesterday’s SC State Board of Education meeting.

Rep. Johnson: “In South Carolina, we love to create bogeymen.”
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Rep. Spann-Wilder:
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