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Watch This Comedian Hilariously Destroy These Book Banners To Their Face
This is exactly why LGBTQ+ book bans don't protect kids at all.
The wave of book banning sweeping the United States is depressing for so many reasons, including the way a large number of the titles being challenged in both schools and libraries are being targeted for having LGBTQ+ themes. And the people trying to keep queer-friendly books out of the reach of teenagers are often doing so under the guise of wanting to “protect” the children, using that as insulation to suggest anyone opposing the bans doesn’t care about kids, at best, or is outright predatory, at worst.
Although it’s basically impossible to reason with people like that, one comedian recently called out the flaws in their argument in the best way possible when he spoke during a meeting held to decide whether or not The Perks of Being a Wallflower would be banned from Oxford School District in Pennsylvania.
Maximilian Clark posed as a concerned resident who supports book banning, also claiming an interest in protecting the children. As he stood up to discuss his issues with the board, he called out the “gay agenda” and pointed out that around 8% of Americans identify as LGBTQ.
“I read books with gay characters when I was a kid. It didn’t affect me, because I’m straight. Same way that like, I read books with dragons and it didn’t affect me because I wasn’t a dragon,” he said. “But if someone who is gay, they read a book with a gay character, they might think that that’s normal. So only by restricting media so they never hear of a healthy human adult who’s gay, we protect them from that idea.”
@logicmax please vote today. these people are. #election #america #politics #progressive #foryou #publicspeaking
From there, Clark let his own argument continue to fall apart, highlighting how this censorship actually damages kids rather than help them in any way.
“And so, you know, these gay kids who live in our district, without a point of reference, they’ll probably just think they’re broken in some way. That they’re weird, right?” he asked. “Jesus. Do you think that’s why the suicide rate is so much higher among queer youth?”
“I guess, really the neutral thing, if you wanted to protect kids, would be to just leave the books alone,” he concluded.
Clark filmed the video in collaboration with Walter Masterson; both have frequently gone around to ultra-conservative events trolling people to try make a point. But their work isn’t just for laughs on the internet. The longer video on Masterson’s YouTube channel also highlights genuine speeches given by members of the community about the damage these attacks are doing to students and teachers, beyond mere banning of books—as egregious as that in and of itself is.
Clark also reported Wednesday that “democrats reclaimed 3/5 seats on [the school board] in the election yesterday,” congratulating local volunteers on their hard work for making it happen.
“Keep voting, keep campaigning and keep chasing these folks out,” he said.
Rachel Kiley is presumably a writer and definitely not a terminator. She can usually be found crying over queerbaiting in the Pitch Perfect franchise or on Twitter, if not both.
Rachel Kiley is presumably a writer and definitely not a terminator. She can usually be found crying over queerbaiting in the Pitch Perfect franchise or on Twitter, if not both.
