Books in Colorado Springs District 20 school libraries attempt to groom children for sexual predators. Parents have been concerned about it – and faculty and administrators have been aware of it – at least since the pandemic. With ballots going out today, voters can fix it.

Written instructions, distributed in district libraries, tell students how to find adult predators with whom to have sex.

Warning: the following excerpts may offend some readers, despite redactions.

From the innocuous sounding “This Book is Gay,” by Juno Dawson, children learn “you definitely want to have sex with dudes.” Adult dudes. It continues:

“How Sex Apps Work:

1. Upload a tiny pic of yourself to the app.

2. The app works out your location.

3. The app tells you who the nearest homosexuals are.

4. You then chat to them.

5. Because you are near, it is easy to meet up with them.”

“Gay men have slightly longer and thicker (redacted). Excellent,” the book explains. “The amygdala of gay men is more responsive to porn… So, we have bigger (redacted) and are hornier. Jus’ sayin’.”

The book instructs children “to do a ‘sex meet,” and “meet the trick in a public place for a drink first.” Why? “That way you can assess if you fancy them in the flesh/they are not a twitchy eyes freakazoid before letting them into your house.”

Stay up to speed: Sign-up for daily opinion in your inbox Monday-Friday

Parents discovered about 1,500 other D-20 library books they consider brazenly inappropriate. They have exposed the books at school board meetings, yet none have been permanently removed. Former Superintendent Tom Gregory removed a few of the most egregious but put them back after a well-known hard-left D-20 activist threatened to sue if he did not also remove the Judeo-Christian Bible.

Adults can view the questionable books and decide for themselves at www.d20books.com. Another parent website, www.booklooks.org, exposes titles found in public elementary, middle and high schools across the country – most of which match the D-20 list.

Aside from grooming children, many of the books are blatantly racist.

From page 135 of the book “Part Time Indian,” by Sherman Alexie, the children read: “Kid, if you get my daughter pregnant, if you make some charcoal babies, I’m going to disown her…”

It gets worse. Other content on d-20books.com is so trope-filled, explicit and racist we cannot adequately redact it for public consumption.

This conflict has become the focus of an election for two D-20 board seats, with ballots going out Monday.

Candidates Amy Shandy and Derrek Wilburn want the worst of the books removed. Board incumbent Heather Cloninger, seeking reelection, wants to keep the books in schools. Fellow incumbent Will Temby, seeking reelection, has done little to address the concern.

Board President, commercial pilot and retired Air Force Lieutenant Col. Tom LaValley shared excerpts during a June board meeting, including graphic instructions for children to find adult sex partners.

“I don’t care if the rest of the book is Shakespeare, when you talk about how sex apps work, they should not be in school libraries,” LaValley said. “Here’s one: ‘two men can pleasure each other in a variety of fun ways.’ I don’t care if it’s a man and woman, it should not be in a school library.”

Cloninger doubled down with her support for the books.

“We have to acknowledge that there are reasons for kids to have information,” Cloninger said, responding to LaValley. Any information, apparently.

For all those who impulsively reject “book bans,” we understand. We must enforce the First Amendment’s prohibition against government censorship of content.

“Legally banning a book, historically, includes burning or otherwise destroying all existing copies while making it a crime to purchase, possess, read or discuss the book,” LaValley explained, quoting a historian. “Choosing which books to include in a curriculum library or book club, and which books not to include, is not a ban.”

Indeed. The Library of Congress rejects 40% of books assigned Library of Congress Control Numbers. Its website says, “the Library cannot accept everything.”

Instead of removing all books in question, schools could restrict the lesser of questionable content to age-appropriate students. There must be a way to resolve this concern.

To clean up libraries, D-20 voters should elect Shandy and Wilburn to replace Cloninger and Timby. Our schools belong to parents and children, not a few unelected administrators and union bosses who tolerate grooming.

Colorado Springs Gazette Editorial Board