DAILY ACTION
August 19, 2025

Protect Books and The Right to Read

Since 2021, Florida has led the country in advancing the “parental rights” agenda. Contrary to its name, this agenda has used fuzzy, coded language to manufacture moral panic, and to deliver control over what students can read and learn in schools not into the hands of all parents but to a particular segment of citizens — some not even parents but community members.

The cumulative effect has been to privilege some parents’ ideological preferences above all others, tie the hands of educators, and limit students’ access to information through curricular prohibitions and book bans.

DEMAND SCHOOLS RESPECT YOUR “PARENTAL RIGHTS” AND STOP BANNING BOOKS BASED ON RIGHT-WING IDEOLOGICAL PREFERENCES. YOUR PREFERENCES MATTER! DON’T LET GROUPS LIKE “MOMS FOR LIBERTY” DOMINATE THE CONVERSATION.

Many schools in Florida are ‘obeying in advance’ and removing books from shelves IN SPITE OF A RECENT RULING THAT OVERTURNS THE “DON’T SAY GAY” BILL THAT VIOLATES FREE SPEECH PROTECTIONS.

CONTACT STATE AND LOCAL BOARD OF EDUCATION MEMBERS TODAY TO SUPPORT THE RIGHT TO READ AND SPEAK OUT AGAINST BOOK BANS.

The Florida Freedom to Read project has posted an article concerning the actions taken against Hillsborough County schools in particular. This will spread to other counties quickly as the State moves to control what students can read. A sample letter supporting the rights of students to read is at the bottom of the article and includes the contact information for the State Board of Education members. Send letters to the Leon County Board of Education members as well.

If you want to do more to fight book-banning, this list of “56 Small Things You Can Do to Be Proactive Against Book Censorship” contains many small, practical actions to protect books and the right to read. Even busy people have time to find one or two things on this list that they can do TODAY to protect the right to read.