This summer, the Traditional Values Coalition with Andrea Lafferty and Mychele Brickner boasted that through Elizabeth Schultz they had persuaded Dr. Garza to remove “George” from library shelves, and only let it be used by counselors with parent permission. “George” is an children’s book appropriate for its reading level about a transgender girl, her friends and family, and coming out. It really is a lovely book.
We delayed action, hearing that the community of librarians was working on it. Finally, in a phone conversation December 3, the coordinator for library services for FCPS confirmed that “George” has been returned to shelves in elementary, middle and high schools without restriction, and several schools are ordering. In addition, Dr. Garza confirmed her trust in the professional judgement in our FCPS librarians and that going forward the usual process for vetting books would be followed.
What that means, essentially, is that librarians may continue to order LGBT interest books for our school libraries, and check them out to students. As of mid-December, we have heard of no negative response to this.