Uploaded October 2022 | Updated September 2026, 10 hours ago
Over the past few years, public school boards and state governments across the United States have been restricting specific books from being taught in their classrooms or circulating in school libraries. Books about sexual identity, sexual activity, gender identity, and racial identity have been especially targeted. Reacting to or instigating parental concerns, local and state politicians have advocated close scrutiny of certain books, and in some places book burnings have resulted. Many contend that these assaults on books are politically motivated censorship, fuel a culture war, and drive an unnecessary moral panic.
Amidst this ongoing debate, might the First Amendment and its guarantee of Free Speech offer some wisdom on how to navigate these issues? Is there a line to be drawn somewhere between censorship and parental rights?
Featured:
Timothy Anderson is a Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates, representing a district encompassing Virginia Beach. In May 2022, he represented a client in a lawsuit to declare two books, Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, a graphic novel memoir that depicts sexual acts in two illustrations, and A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Mass “obscene to minors” under state law. The lawsuit was later dismissed. He was designated Pro-Bono Attorney of the Year in 2017 and holds a J.D. from Regent University.
Jonathan Evison is The New York Times bestselling author of seven novels, including Lawn Boy, which has won awards but was America’s second-most-challenged book of 2021, cited and restricted for LGBTQ+ content and sexually explicit passages. He has received recognition for West of Here, The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving, and, most recently, Small World, which Booklist called "a masterpiece" and the Christian Science Monitor deemed "a modern classic."
Nadine Farid Johnson, managing director of PEN America’s Washington office and its Free Expression Programs, leads the organization’s high-level governmental engagement on a broad range of global and domestic issues. An attorney and advocate with a focus on democracy, human rights, and governance, she has worked across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. She is a former U.S. diplomat whose work spanned the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and multilateral affairs. Previously, she served as executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas.
Rosemary Kilkenny is Georgetown University’s first vice president for institutional diversity and equity. Previously, she served as special assistant to the president for affirmative action programs at Georgetown and director of affirmative action at SUNY Albany. She has served on several national boards and is a founding board member of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education. She has given many seminars on cultural diversity, sexual harassment, and legal issues in affirmative action and holds a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.
Sanford J. Ungar (moderator), president emeritus of Goucher College, is director of the nonpartisan Free Speech Project at Georgetown University, which documents challenges to free expression in American education, government, and civil society. Director of the Voice of America under President Bill Clinton, he was also dean of the American University School of Communication and is a former co-host of "All Things Considered" on NPR.
Over the past few years, public school boards and state governments across the United States have been restricting specific books from being taught in their classrooms or circulating in school libraries. Books about sexual identity, sexual activity, gender identity, and racial identity have been especially targeted. Reacting to or instigating parental concerns, local and state politicians have advocated close scrutiny of certain books, and in some places book burnings have resulted. Many contend that these assaults on books are politically motivated censorship, fuel a culture war, and drive an unnecessary moral panic.
Amidst this ongoing debate, might the First Amendment and its guarantee of Free Speech offer some wisdom on how to navigate these issues? Is there a line to be drawn somewhere between censorship and parental rights?
Featured:
Timothy Anderson is a Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates, representing a district encompassing Virginia Beach. In May 2022, he represented a client in a lawsuit to declare two books, Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, a graphic novel memoir that depicts sexual acts in two illustrations, and A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Mass “obscene to minors” under state law. The lawsuit was later dismissed. He was designated Pro-Bono Attorney of the Year in 2017 and holds a J.D. from Regent University.
Jonathan Evison is The New York Times bestselling author of seven novels, including Lawn Boy, which has won awards but was America’s second-most-challenged book of 2021, cited and restricted for LGBTQ+ content and sexually explicit passages. He has received recognition for West of Here, The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving, and, most recently, Small World, which Booklist called "a masterpiece" and the Christian Science Monitor deemed "a modern classic."
Nadine Farid Johnson, managing director of PEN America’s Washington office and its Free Expression Programs, leads the organization’s high-level governmental engagement on a broad range of global and domestic issues. An attorney and advocate with a focus on democracy, human rights, and governance, she has worked across the public, private, and nonprofit sectors. She is a former U.S. diplomat whose work spanned the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and multilateral affairs. Previously, she served as executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas.
Rosemary Kilkenny is Georgetown University’s first vice president for institutional diversity and equity. Previously, she served as special assistant to the president for affirmative action programs at Georgetown and director of affirmative action at SUNY Albany. She has served on several national boards and is a founding board member of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education. She has given many seminars on cultural diversity, sexual harassment, and legal issues in affirmative action and holds a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.
Sanford J. Ungar (moderator), president emeritus of Goucher College, is director of the nonpartisan Free Speech Project at Georgetown University, which documents challenges to free expression in American education, government, and civil society. Director of the Voice of America under President Bill Clinton, he was also dean of the American University School of Communication and is a former co-host of "All Things Considered" on NPR.
