Alex Gino (L) is the male cross-dressing author of the "children's book," Melissa. Brian Burch (R) runs Catholic Vote. | Wikipedia/Catholic Vote
Alex Gino (L) is the male cross-dressing author of the "children's book," Melissa. Brian Burch (R) runs Catholic Vote. | Wikipedia/Catholic Vote
The president of a leading Catholic advocacy association says the adults leading Alachua County Schools should focus on student learning, not "indulging the deviant fantasies of sexually depraved adults."
On Friday, Catholic Vote's Brian Burch slammed the Alachua County School Board Friday for voting to teach 8-12 year old students on "dirty magazines" and how to search for pornography on the Internet.
“Public grammar schools don’t teach reading, writing and math anymore. Instead they instruct our kids on sexual perversion and depravity,” Burch said. “Alachua County parents shouldn’t have to worry that their kids are being exposed to gross pornography by their adult teachers."
"Their elected leaders are indulging the deviant fantasies of sexually depraved adults. Garrett Jones represents the epitome of cowardice that has come to represent public education in America. He should resign in shame.” Burch said.
Jones, an assistant principal and member of the Terwilliger Elementary School "Library Advisory Council," testified to the school board that he thought the book Melissa, a story about a fourth-grade boy who cross-dresses and pretends he is a girl, was appropriate reading for third to fifth graders at his school.
His testimony was distributed on the popular Twitter handle "Libs of Tik Tok," which slammed Jones for saying it is "appropriate for 8-year-old kids to be reading pornography and dirty magazines in school"
The book was written by crossdressing male author Alex Gino, who claims he neither a man nor a woman and refers to himself as "they." It encourages children to "take hormones" to change their biological sex, and to use the wrong bathroom.
On Feb. 6, the Alachua County School board voted 4-1 to keep Melissa in the district's elementary school library.
In a statement, Alachua County Schools defended Jones and their decision, claiming the book does discuss pornography but doesn't have actual "pornographic scenes, pictures, or descriptions."
Based in Gainesville, Alachua County Schools serve 29,845 students in 64 schools. They have more than 4,000 employees.
Founded in 2008, Catholic Vote is the largest non-profit Catholic political advocacy group in the U.S. It is headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin.
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