Alicia Farrant defends book challenges in biblical terms

Alicia Farrant couldn't quite get the job done on transgender bathrooms.

An Orange County School Board member classified the battle over books in school libraries as a fight against evil during a press conference in Orlando that included Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Orange County School Board member Alicia Farrant, who pushed for books to be removed from school libraries before being elected last year, defended the removal of some books while denying the censoring of others.

She also spoke in epic moral terms about the decisions regarding what appears on shelves, tearing up as she quoted from the Bible.

“What we are seeing here in our country is actually a nation that is losing its morals and turning away from and turning its back on God, perverting the innocence of children, pushing sex, perversion and inappropriate content younger and younger,” Farrant said.

“When we look at the big picture, this isn’t so much about books. This battle is between good and evil that is targeting our children. And I believe the only way to steer us back is found in 2 Chronicles 7:14.”

That’s a verse about seeking repentance: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

Farrant was active in her local chapter of Moms for Liberty before winning elected office on the School Board. She lobbied to have Genderqueer, a graphic novel by Maia Kobabe recounting the author’s adolescence and ultimate nonbinary identity, removed.

She supported the controversial policy in place in Florida now that allows parents to challenge books. Notably, Gov. DeSantis has championed that policy. But at the press conference with Farrant in attendance, he discussed ways to curb some challenges to books he views as political stunts.

Farrant said the narrative around challenges was incorrect.

“The narrative being pushed is that parents are banning any book based on race, religion or gender, but that is simply not true,” she said. “The media and extreme left-wing groups wants you to believe that we are banning, we’re trying to ban and remove classics, like Charlotte’s Web, when in fact we are removing books like Let’s Talk About It, which is completely sexually explicit.”

Tina Descovich, a co-founder of Moms for Liberty, similarly blamed media for creating a false narrative around book challenges. She at one point pointed to reporters at the press conference.

“We have a crisis in America in public education, and you, the media, in the back of the room and around this country, all you can do is be obsessed with book bans that are not happening,” she said. “We the parents have had enough.”

Watchdog groups like PEN America found Florida leads the nation in the number of individual books banned in school.

“Over 40 percent of all book bans occurred in school districts in Florida,” reads a report the group published last year. “Across 33 school districts, PEN America recorded 1,406 book ban cases in Florida, followed by 625 bans in Texas, 333 bans in Missouri, 281 bans in Utah, and 186 bans in Pennsylvania.”

But Descovich said challenges to books have removed inappropriate content from schools.

She also accused 60 Minutes of refusing to air an interview with her that she believes would debunk the book banning narrative. She said the book challenges happening in Florida involve parents in decisions about schools.

“It takes more than good teachers in good schools and communities,” she said. “It takes everybody in this state and in this country to care about this issue. Media step up. Cover the fact that we are in a literacy crisis.”