Four years ago, Anchorage resident Jay McDonald informed the Anchorage School Board of the pornographic content inside the book This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson available in school libraries. Today, that book is still available to teenagers at Bartlett High School and Dimond High School. It has been checked out 44 times.
The book teaches readers how to perform gay sex and how to use online apps and platforms to connect anonymously with men for sex. The availability of this book in school libraries violates Alaska law by distributing indecent materials to minors.
Alaska law prohibits adults from exposing minors under 16 with material that depicts “the following actual or simulated conduct: sexual penetration; the lewd touching a person’s genitals, anus or female breast; masturbation; bestiality; the lewd exhibition of a person’s genitals, anus, or female breast; or sexual masochism or sadism.”
The law (Sec 11.61.128) clarifies that the materials are considered “harmful to minors” if:
(1) the average individual, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the material, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest in sex for persons under 16 years of age;
(2) a reasonable person would find that the material, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, educational, political, or scientific value for persons under 16 years of age; and
(3) the material depicts actual or simulated conduct in a way that is patently offensive to the prevailing standards in the adult community as a whole with respect to what is suitable for persons under 16 years of age.
Here is just one page from This Book Is Gay:
Warning: R-Rated. For adult readers ONLY. Click to view.
Readers may judge for themselves if such explicit descriptions “appeal to the prurient interest in sex for persons under 16 years of age,” “lack serious literary, artistic, educational, political, or scientific value,” and are “patently offensive to the prevailing standards in the adult community.”
The book promotes itself as “the instruction manual” for queer sex. Not only is its express purpose to teach sexual activities, but it also teaches readers how to find sexual hook-ups. This book exposes teenagers in school, where they should be safely learning subjects such as mathematics and American history, to explicit instructions on how to connect with men online for sex. This exposes children to well-known avenues of child trafficking and child sexual abuse.
The distribution of indecent materials to minors is a Class C Felony.
Must Read Alaska asks the Anchorage District to remove This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson from all school libraries immediately. Corrective action for librarians and school staff who knowingly provided this book to school children should be pursued to the full extent of the law.
