LGBTQ+ Censorship Fears Grow as 'Parental Rights' Lobbying Leads to School Books Ban

Socially conservative "parents' rights" groups that have emerged as powerfully political lobbying groups in the US are quickly gaining ground in Canada, academics and free speech advocates say, after two such groups claimed they had persuaded Alberta to institute a sweeping public school book ban.

- Olivia Bowden

Alberta recently directed schools to purge library books from shelves that fitted its definition of "explicit sexual content" by 1 October. If the policy is applied precisely as outlined, a host of books face being removed from Canada's state-funded schools, including George Orwell's 1984 due to passages in the text that discuss sexual intercourse and rape.

Academics and researchers who examine censorship say the policy specifically targets books that affirm LGBTQ+ identities - which they say is the goal of rightwing parents' groups.

"They'd been working on the government for months to get them to do this," said James Turk, the director of the Centre for Free Expression at Toronto Metropolitan University.