Why is the MSEA, ACLU, and MD Association of School Librarians Obsessed with Child Porn and Sex?

For years, courts across the United States and Maryland recognized that children must be protected from sexual predators and harmful and unnatural behaviors of child sex offenders. In Booksellers v. Virginia (1988), the Supreme Court held that booksellers may be criminally prosecuted for allowing obscene sexual material easily accessible to children "youth" as they called it.

Obscene movies with explicit vulgarity and adult content have been identified since 1960s and the need to regulate and protect minors from accessing it.

Ginsberg v. New York (1968) and New York v. Ferber (1982) are the core Supreme Court decisions establishing stronger governmental authority to restrict minors’ access to sexually explicit or exploitative material, even when it falls short of the general adult obscenity standard. Related cases refine the rules for possession, online access, and the underlying obscenity test together with bookstores, movie theaters and libraries having to properly catalog adult material.

The Court upheld a New York statute making it illegal to sell or distribute to minors under 17 materials depicting nudity or sexual content that are “harmful to minors,” even if the same materials would not be obscene for adults.

• The decision recognized a state’s independent interest in the well-being of youth and in supporting parental authority.

• It established the concept of “variable obscenity”: the three-part test for unprotected obscenity can be adjusted when the audience is minors. Material need not meet the full adult standard to be restricted for those under 17.

• The Court rejected claims that the law violated the First or Fourteenth Amendments or was unconstitutionally vague.

This case remains the foundational authority for laws limiting minors’ access to non-obscene but sexually explicit “harmful to minors” material (often applied to magazines, books, or online content).

New York v. Ferber (458 U.S. 747, 1982) is a case where the Court unanimously upheld a New York law prohibiting the distribution of material depicting sexual performances by children under 16. The court determined that:

• Child pornography involving real minors is a categorical exception to First Amendment protection and does not need to satisfy the Miller obscenity test.

• The state’s compelling interest in protecting children from the physiological, emotional, and mental harm of sexual exploitation (and from the permanent record of that exploitation) justifies the ban on production and distribution.

• The advertising and sale of such material are integral to the illegal production process.

Miller v. California (1973): Established the three-part test still used to define unprotected obscenity for adults (and, with adjustments, for minors under Ginsberg): (1) whether the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest; (2) whether it depicts or describes sexual conduct in a patently offensive way as defined by applicable law; and (3) whether the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value. Obscenity under this test is unprotected for everyone.

Osborne v. Ohio (1990): Extended Ferber principles to allow states to criminalize the private possession and viewing of child pornography, distinguishing it from adult obscenity (where private possession is protected under Stanley v. Georgia).

Free Speech Coalition, Inc. v. Paxton (2025): Upheld a Texas law requiring commercial websites that publish content “obscene to minors” to verify users’ ages (e.g., via government ID). The Court relied on Ginsberg, applied intermediate scrutiny to the incidental burden on adults, and affirmed states’ traditional power to shield minors from material that is obscene from a minor’s perspective.

So if all those cases before the Supreme Court of the United States repeatedly and consistently reference HARMFUL IMPACT to Minors the SERIOUS Question for Maryland parents is still unanswered: WHY IS the Teachers' Union, or ACLU of Maryland, and its associated Maryland Association of School Librarians so obsessed with child pornography, child sexual exploitation, and vulgarity as depicted in "Gender Queer" by Maia Kobabe, "All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson, "This Book Is Gay" by Juno Dawson, "Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story" by Jacob Tobia,"Fun Home" by Alison Bechdel, a graphic memoir exploring family dynamics, sexuality, and identity (more focused on lesbian experience and parental relationships).

Another example is a book called "Flamer" by Mike Curato, a graphic novel about a gay teen at summer camp navigating identity or how about a graphic novel involving gender expression, disguise in "The Prince and the Dressmaker " by Jen Wang and many similar books shoved into classrooms and school libraries.

Not coincidentally, since these harmful books have been introduced to minors contrary to ALL Supreme Court decisions, the rate of past-year major depressive episodes (MDEs) among adolescents (typically ages 12–17) rose substantially from around 2015 through 2026!

Data primarily come from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH, conducted by SAMHSA), which uses DSM-based criteria for MDE (a period of at least two weeks with depressed mood or loss of interest/pleasure plus other symptoms).

Other surveys (e.g., Youth Risk Behavior Survey/YRBS for persistent sadness/hopelessness; National Survey of Children’s Health for diagnosed conditions;

National Emergency should be considered by PARENTS after reading these data:

Past-Year MDE Rates Among U.S. Adolescents (Ages 12–17), NSDUH

Approximate prevalence (with some year-to-year variation in exact reported figures due to weighting/methodology):

• 2015: 12.5%

• 2016: 12.8%

• 2017: 13.3%

• 2018: 14.4%

• 2019: 15.7%

• 2020: 16.9–17.0%

• 2021: 20.1–20.8% (pandemic peak)

• 2022: 19.5%

• 2023: ~18.1%

• 2024: 14.8–15.4%

• 2025: ~15.1%

Here are the original publication dates for similar books previously discussed (primarily U.S. editions; some had earlier international releases or later revised editions). Dates focus on the first major print release:

• Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel — June 8, 2006. kirkusreviews.com (https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/alison-bechdel/fun-home/)

• Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin — February 11, 2014. en.wikipedia.org (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_Magenta)

• This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson — 2014 (original UK); U.S. edition June 2, 2015 (Sourcebooks; later revised editions, e.g., 2021). web.archive.org (https://web.archive.org/web/20221229005106/https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/juno-dawson/this-book-is-gay/)

• Nimona by ND Stevenson — May 19, 2015 (graphic novel; based on an earlier webcomic). kirkusreviews.com (https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/nd-stevenson/nimona/)

• The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang — February 13, 2018. en.wikipedia.org (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prince_and_the_Dressmaker)

• Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story by Jacob Tobia — March 5, 2019. penguinrandomhouse.com (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/566884/sissy-by-jacob-tobia/)

• All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson — April 28, 2020. en.wikipedia.org (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Boys_Aren't_Blue)

• Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender — May 5, 2020. goodreads.com (https://www.goodreads.com/work/editions/70110261-felix-ever-after)

• Flamer by Mike Curato — September 1, 2020. en.wikipedia.org (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flamer_(novel))

• Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas — September 1, 2020. en.wikipedia.org (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cemetery_Boys)

• Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff — April 20, 2021. en.wikipedia.org (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Too_Bright_to_See)

• Welcome to St. Hell: My Trans Teen Misadventure by Lewis Hancox — June 2022 (around June 7). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Hancox

There appears to be a correlation between the publication dates of these materials and reported depression rates, as the progression rate reflects an increased, focused agenda involving the sexualization of minors by adults.

1/5th of American teens are suffering from depression, suicidal thoughts and self destructive behavior!

Somerset County appears to be acutely aware of these facts and have engaged top legal counsel Marc and Gordana Schifanelli to help protect parents and their children against brutal treatment of minors in Maryland.

So we ask again, WHY does the MSEA want to harm your children, sexualize them, and make them depressed with the sense of helplessness and insecurity? Why push these books on school children? Why call minors "young adults" when they are clearly adolescents and minors?

We the Parents need ANSWERS.

Fellows & Editors

August 16, 2026

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