Jonathan Friedman 📚

Banned books inserts for Little Free Libraries.pdf

Are you planning on donating banned books to a little free library? You can use these inserts to increase the impact your donation has on the community:

Texas A&M Panel Feb 10

Tomorrow!! Can't wait for this All Star panel of writers joining me to talk free speech and academic freedom on the campus of Texas A&M. With @penamerica.bsky.social & @thefireorg.bsky.social !

With Sandra Cisneros, Jennifer Finney Boylan, George Packer, Gloria J. Browne-Marshall and Graham Piro.

Higher education should be a place where everyone is welcome, supported, and safe. But that vision is under threat and we must defend it — together. The Alliance is a new coalition protecting and promoting higher ed as a pillar of democracy. Joining the movement: allianceforhighered.org

There is no use in sugarcoating things. For higher education in America, 2025 was a year of catastrophe. Get all the details in PEN America's new report "America's Censored Campuses: Expanding the Web of Control" at: pen.org/report/ameri... #censorship #highereducation

Yesterday we @penamerica.bsky.social released a comprehensive study of government censorship of US higher ed in 2025.

We discuss:

- rampant educational gag orders & state laws
- weaponization of federal gov to control academic research and teaching

Highlights 👇

Quote by Jim McCarthy, Vice President at the literary agency Dystel, Goderich & Bourret in The Hill, discussing editors passing on LBGTQ+ content amid book bans and decreasing school library sales of queer content. Includes the PEN America logo.

Publishers are feeling the chill of the book banning movement and a second Trump presidency as literary agents note a more reserved atmosphere for publishing books with LGBTQ+ characters and themes. More: https://thehill.com/homenews/lgbtq/5679251-trump-era-lgbtq-book-bans/

Both male and female horses have eyelashes. Unicorns don't exist so this can't be scientifically verified. Valiant use of taxpayer money to micromanage the acceptable eyelash representation of fictional animals.

Trump admin to ban book from Yosemite National Park, says author The Trump administration's censorship directive has reportedly targeted Obi Kaufmann.

News of clandestine book banning at Yosemite national Park. Against what else? A book about ecological decline with California waterways. Because this is somehow what the current admin opposes people learning about?
www.sfgate.com/national-par...

Texas Tech’s limits on gender identity discussion deepen fears of politics breaching academic freedom Sign up for The Brief, The Texas Tribune’s daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

And here's Texas Tech. Alas, muzzling faculty at the whims of the president isn't just a violation of academic freedom and human decency. It's dangerous.
www.newsfromthestates.com/article/texa...

Texas State University professor reinstated by court after being fired for “inciting violence” Thomas Alter, who was fired for comments he made during an online socialist conference, won’t be allowed to teach but will be reinstated with pay, the university said.

Mixed day for free speech in Texas higher ed

Texas Tech made a draconian policy that faculty can't teach about sex and gender unless it's to the letter of whatever the President says (!?)

But Texas State reinstated prof with pay, who was fired for an extramural speech share.google/bXV8TM11EQR2...

Leander ISD pauses dozens of books in classrooms in response to state law

Removing To Kill a Mockingbird and The House on Mango Street from Texas classrooms does not protect Texas kids. The Texas GOP and Governor Abbott need to answer for this. Shameful.

www.fox7austin.com/news/leander...

Jimmy Kimmel Returns With A Unifying and Rousing Plea for People to Speak Out for Free Speech Kimmel’s return could become a watershed moment in the current free speech crisis propelled by the Trump administration.

In fact, I wrote about this very thing earlier this week for @penamerica.bsky.social .

share.google/Z5yc9SvhAkEc...

Local TV Giants End Jimmy Kimmel Boycott

A victory for free speech. Now let's hope, as @jimmykimmel.com called for, people also raise their voices for other free speech, academic freedom, press freedom cases. For the ppl that don't have the same prominence. Lord knows there are enough of 'em!
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/b...

Jimmy Kimmel Returns With A Unifying and Rousing Plea for People to Speak Out for Free Speech Kimmel’s return could become a watershed moment in the current free speech crisis propelled by the Trump administration.

In fact, I wrote about this very thing earlier this week for @PENamerica .

share.google/oYH5fwopq8t9...

YouTube video by Jimmy Kimmel Live Trump Grieves By Talking About $200 Million Ballroom, MAGA Hits New Lows & Guillermo at the Emmys

This is the offending monologue from @jimmykimmel.com , begins at the 2 minute mark. Watch the clip and ask yourself when did this become forbidden speech on American TV?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j3Y...

Alberta bans school library books it deems sexually explicit | CBC News Alberta's education minister says sexually explicit content must be gone from school library shelves as of Oct. 1, but says the announcement is not about book banning.

Alberta, goddamn.
share.google/El4Mbh9HWxMf...

State BOE Member Byrd recommended districts skip the review process and go right to removing every title on their shelves that has appeared on the state’s annual removal lists.

Well, it appears Volusia listened. Here are 10 of the disappeared titles we have been monitoring, now banned in Volusia.

I just shared this with Dr. Bhattacharya and colleagues...

My latest commentary, in @slj.com with @tasslyn.bsky.social on the Mahmoud v Taylor decision. These wonderful books -- and their authors -- deserved better.

"We would not expect schools to put Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day in the sex education curriculum simply because it features a straight mom and dad. Why would Justice Gorsuch or others believe stories about families with two moms or two dads belong there?"

Last night, Hillsborough County Public Schools held its first school board meeting since letters from state officials ordered books off shelves.

Two parents made particularly poignant statements that must be heard.

You can watch the whole meeting here: www.hillsboroughschools.org/Page/6365

Velshi Banned Book Club: “Pride Puppy!” by Robin Stevenson “Pride Puppy!” by Robin Stevenson is a rhyming alphabet book. With brightly colored illustrations, it tells the story of a puppy that gets lost during a Pride parade. “Pride Puppy!”, despite its cute premise and beautiful pictures, is at the center of a Supreme Court case happening right now. A small group of Maryland parents have sued over exposing their children to LGBTQ+ inclusive books like “Pride Puppy!” at their public school. As outlandish as it may seem to center a children’s book in such a high profile, so much is on the line for authors, for access to literature, and for families like the ones portrayed at Pride in this children’s book.

Talk about L is for LEAP. How “Pride Puppy!” - a children’s alphabet book - came to the center of a SCOTUS case w/ high stakes for access to books & education, involves "a pretty disturbing interpretation," says @robinstevenson.bsky.social. The "backlash is such evidence of need for these books."

Trump Targets Chinese Students, a Harsh Blow to Higher Ed The Trump administration’s latest effort to revive its student deportation campaign could drastically curtail the largest population of international students in the country.

“‘Aggressively revoking’ visas based on political ideology is a gross violation of basic free expression principles that anchor the academy,” @jonfreadom.bsky.social, PEN America's managing director of U.S. free expression, tells Inside Higher Ed www.insidehighered.com/news/global/...

A FL public library considering pulling out books about "life issues" to a separate section. Except it's defined so incredibly brutally it's basically books about any topic someone might want to censor.

Trump Administration Strips Harvard of Right to Enroll International Students - PEN America Trump administration strikes at Harvard's right to enroll international students; an assault on academic freedom

Revoking Harvard's right to enroll international students is "a brazen escalation of the Trump administration’s attacks on the higher education sector... (that) reduces international students to pawns in a political game," says PEN America's @jonfreadom.bsky.social. pen.org/press-releas...

Trump’s Angry New Attack on Harvard Is About to Blow Up in His Face As Trump’s assault on Harvard grows more unhinged, a leading free speech advocate explains how all this is already backfiring on Trump by stiffening institutional resistance to him—and what must happe...

Trump's vile ban on foreign students at Harvard comes as an AP poll finds large majorities disapprove of his treatment of colleges. He's getting them to band together and he's making them *more* popular with the public.

On the pod, @jonfreadom.bsky.social explains:
newrepublic.com/article/1956...

Report from today’s hearing in the Middle District case PRH v. Gibson:

The state stuck to the argument that our libraries are “government speech” and students, parents, educators, authors, and publishers have no reasonable expectation to access particular ideas or to have their ideas endorsed.

South Carolina Replaces Utah as the State with the Most Mandated Banned Books for All Public Schools - PEN America South Carolina has voted to ban 10 more books in public schools statewide, raising the total to 22. This makes it the leading state for mandated book bans in every K-12 public school, replacing Utah, ...

South Carolina has voted to ban 10 more books in public schools statewide, raising the total to 22. This makes it the leading state for mandated book bans in every K-12 public school, replacing Utah, which currently has mandated bans on 18 books statewide. pen.org/press-releas...

Kehlani Concert in Central Park Is Canceled After Pressure From Mayor

This is among the more thinly- veiled censorship rationales I've seen in a while. NYC Mayor's office pressured City Parks Foundation to cancel Kehlani at SummerStage b/c of "the controversy" related to them being cancelled at Cornell... construed as a "safety" issue.
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/05/n...

Trump and Harvard Both Want ‘Viewpoint Diversity.’ What Does It Mean? (Gift Article) The administration has accused the university of lacking viewpoint diversity. Harvard is fighting its demands, but embracing the vague term.

“What we’re seeing now is very dangerous,” said PEN America's @jonfreadom.bsky.social. “When you attach these punitive potential actions to these concepts, you can comb through anything a university is doing and find fault.” www.nytimes.com/2025/05/05/a...