By DAVID BOYLE
On Tuesday, a parent of an Anchorage School District student read aloud from one of the how-to sex books that are accessible to children in Anchorage school libraries.
In the past, Jay McDonald has been able to at least read a few lines before being told to leave. This time, the school board shut down him down almost immediately, telling him he could not read from a book during his three minutes at the microphone.
“Let’s Talk About It” was the book in question on Tuesday, and even though children at Romig Middle School and Bartlett High School can read this book that is on their shelves, it was not allowed to be read into the record for school board members to hear. The school board shut it down.
McDonald believes that, if the kids can read the book, then the school board can, too. The school board’s public participation rules have no such sanctions against reading passages from any book.
“”Let’s Talk About It” has detailed instructions on all kinds of sexual activities, including how to “sext,” which is sending nude photos through the internet. The book’s authors give children detailed instructions: Use the editing functions of their phones to remove any identifying features (piercings, tattoos, etc), before sending pictures to the entire world on the Internet, they remind the kids. The graphic book has drawings of anal sex, oral sex, homosexual sex, sex toys, and more.
The authors encourage kids to view pornography online, describing it as a healthy activity. They also encourage children to pay for the pornography they watch. The authors diminish the value of virginity, calling it an outdated term that has no real meaning.
As Jay McDonald began reading from the book on Tuesday, Board member Carl Jacobs, who was chairing the meeting, stopped him.
“I am going to interrupt you at this point. It sounds like you have a concern about a book that I’d be glad to get you connected to the superintendent to go through the appropriate process,” Jacobs said.
Board member Dave Donley objected to the interruption: “Mr. Chair, I don’t think he’s violated any rules. I mean, he hasn’t used pornography. I mean he hasn’t shown any pornography, any bad words”.
Chair Jacobs seemed rattled and told Mr. Donley that he could, if he liked, try to overrule the rule of the chair. He said that board precedence allowed him, as the chair, to stop the testimony.
Donley countered, “I don’t think he said anything that would cause us to cut off his testimony at this point.” Donley then appealed the ruling of the chair.
Five board members voted to uphold Jacob’s ruling: Pat Higgins, Kelly Lessens, Carl Jacobs, School Board President Margo Bellamy and Dora Wilson.
Only members Donley and Andy Holleman voted to allow McDonald to complete his testimony.
Watch Jay McDonald’s First Amendment rights violated at the Anchorage School Board meeting on Feb. 7:
This is not the first time McDonald has read books aloud to the school board. After he read a passage from “This Book Is Gay,” he was cut off by Board President Margo Bellamy. That book soon disappeared from several school book shelves, but is still available in at least one Anchorage public school.
On Tuesday, after being denied his ability to peaceably redress his grievances to the government as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, McDonald returned to his vehicle and posted a video of his testimony online, where Facebook, which objects to the content, has throttled his account back to the point where it’s difficult to find.
He showed the book and, while blocking out the graphic pictures, described to people what is in middle school libraries in Anchorage. In spite of Facebook’s blocking of his account, the video went viral on Facebook, with more than 25,000 views in just a few hours. Here is a clip:
Watch Jay McDonald’s complete 16-minute video at his Facebook page.
A pattern of constitutional infringement has developed as the Anchorage School Board has incrementally reduced the freedom of parents and other citizens to attend and speak at its board meetings.
The board changed its meetings in 2021 from Monday night to Tuesday night, which conflicts with the Anchorage Assembly meetings, and reduces the number of people who can attend either meeting. The school board meetings had been held on Monday nights for decades so they would not conflict with the Assembly meetings.
Then the board decided to allow students to testify first in the allotted one-hour public testimony period at the beginning of the meeting. If many students testify, then taxpaying citizens who wish to speak are forced to the end of the meeting, usually at about 10 pm.
Now, the school board has told a citizen he cannot read from a school library book.
