Bridget Rueter’s kids love reading, which has inspired her mission to stop book bans across the state. The Cincinnati mom is a part of Red, Wine & Blue — an organization made up of suburban women in Ohio who advocate for progressive causes.

“I have the right to say what is okay for my child to read,” Rueter said.

She is now worried that educators will be censored due to new legislation.

“I think my initial reaction was shock to see the words obscene and school librarian in the same sentence,” Rueter said.

Read more at wcpo

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This is a story about reading, but let’s start with some math: 644.That’s the number of book bans in Pennsylvania public school districts between July 2021 and June 2023.Third. That’s where the commonwealth ranks in the nation when it comes to states with the most book bans.

One. That’s how many of those bans it took for Chester County mother Ronna Dewey to get involved.

“In 2021, in my school district, there was a proposed ban of a few books,” Dewey said. “These books all had LGBTQ+ characters or were written by LGBTQ+ authors or had material about the LGBTQ+ community; I have a kid who is part of that community and it felt really, really personal to me. So I got involved. I knew I had to stand up and say something.”

Continue Reading at keystonenewsroom.com

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The debate at Tuesday’s school board meeting highlights the ongoing cultural wars going on across North Carolina and the nation.

It led to state lawmakers adopting the “Parents’ Bill of Rights.” The law’s provisions include barring instruction on gender identity, sexuality or sexual activity in kindergarten through fourth-grade classrooms.

Speakers regularly debate at school board meetings about what books should be allowed in school libraries.

“The school board is debating a grant from the organization We Need Diverse Books, which includes ‘Boy Meets Boy,’ etc,” speaker John Balog said at this week’s board meeting. “You can go on their website and check it out.

“Yes we need diversity. We need subject and curriculum diversity. We need passing grades in math, English, science, social studies, music.”

He said anything else needs parental consent.

But speaker Renee Sekel said students need to read about the lives of marginalized students. As an example she pointed to the case of Nex Benedict, a 16-year-old nonbinary student in Oklahoma who died this month a day after a fight in school.

“If such books weren’t under such deep attack then maybe a precious 16-year-old non-binary child who was beaten brutally to death in a bathroom in Oklahoma … at their school, good gravy, would be alive today. These are matters of life and death.” Sekel said.

Read the full article at yahoo.com

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Localized social media groups on Facebook and other platforms can be a popular starting point for stirring outrage over books or to push for “harmful” policies, according to Ronna Dewey, the Pennsylvania chapter head of Red, Wine & Blue, a kind of national counter group to the conservative Moms For Liberty.

“Maybe they heard something from a friend in another school district or saw something online and they start saying things like, ‘Oh, do we have these books in our school? We need to start looking,’” Dewey said.

Continue Reading at phillyburbs 

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“Book banning… seems to be not going away,’’ Julie Womack, organizing director for Red, Wine & Blue, said as she kicked off the hourlong training in mid-December. “It continues to spread so it’s very likely to be something that will happen in your school district.”

The session was one of several hosted by Red, Wine & Blue, a grassroots group mobilizing suburban women, many of them liberal-leaning, as part of its campaign to push back against the rise of book bans. Across the country, national and local groups have launched projects to counter efforts to ban or restrict books, many written by authors of color or focused on issues like racism, gender identity and sexuality.

Continue reading on USAToday. 

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County meetings and social media were abuzz about the library for months after a conservative group asked the Warren County Board of Supervisors to defund it, replace the staff, and change the library’s operational structure when Samuels refused to remove about 140 LGBTQ-themed books.

After withholding 75 percent of the library’s budget while it worked to address concerns brought about by book challengers, supervisors released the money on Oct. 3, unanimously approving an operational agreement with the library.

Library supporters rejoiced at the agreement – which calls for continued funding, minor changes to the library’s board of trustees, and bi-annual reports to supervisors about the library’s finances.

Kelsey Lawrence, head of Save Samuels, a group that advocated for the library’s policies, said she is thrilled with the agreement, calling it a “testament to the strength of democracy.”

Saying that Save Samuels is “more than a movement; it’s a tight-knit community, even a family,” Lawrence said that the effort represented a first foray into politics for many of its members.

“For most of us, including myself, this journey into local politics has been enlightening, highlighting the importance of holding our local government accountable,” she said, noting that the group may broaden its mission “to protect more vital institutions” in the future. Library critics were furious about the agreement.

In an Oct. 5 email with the subject line “Et tu, Brute?”, Clean Up Samuels, the group that opposed the library’s book collection, structure, and funding, called the new agreement a betrayal of parents and taxpayers and a “dagger in the back.”

Read the complete article at nvdaily.com 

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RWB focuses on different key issues, including reproductive justice, fighting book bans, and addressing the culture wars currently dominating school board meetings across the country. They helped get a referendum on the ballot in Michigan to give state-level access to abortion, collecting well over the 425,000 signatures required. Here in North Carolina, they have worked with groups like Indivisible, as well as local campaigns with their get-out-the-vote efforts. While they do have in-person meetings over (of course) a glass of wine, they have also built a sizable online presence. For a group that isn’t composed of mostly Gen-Z or even millennials, they have smartly utilized the digital sphere to get their message out. They have expanded on Facebook and Twitter/X and even have a podcast. They have a whole section on their website dedicated to fighting book bans which is actually very well done.

Their official page labels them “Book Ban Busters” which I think is kind of neat! It makes them sound like superheroes. And let’s be honest, they have to be to do this kind of work. They talk about how extremists are trying to attack education, in some instances even banning books about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks. They state what I think could be a good tagline, saying “Suburban women aren’t having it.” A unique thing they are doing is sending ‘Banned Bookmobile’ kits out! This is a part of their new initiative called “Freedom to Parent 21st Century Kids”.

Read more about Red, Wine and Blue and the full article at themarysue.com 

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“We believe that the best way to fight book bans is with knowledge and facts,” said Red Wine and Blue Pennsylvania Program Director Ronna Dewey in a statement. “This summer we turned our cars into Bookmobiles and are handing out children’s banned books to families. We are so excited to help fill Central York’s 22 Little Free Libraries.”

Read more at the York Dispatch

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Philadelphians, take a bow. You showed a hate group how you feel about bringing their harmful messaging into our city. I have never been more proud to be a Philadelphian! What you did sends both a signal to The Mothers and to other hotels and cities they might travel to in the future.

New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and other cities with thriving LGBTQ+ communities, take note. This is how a united community, with the freedom to be creative with their outrage, works. Here’s a glimpse of The Mothers’ time in Philly.

Read more at Philadelphia Gay News

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There were so many protests — rallies with speakers, “Dance Party Protest” events, a “Banned Book Giveaway”— that those attending the summit did so with a large, visible police presence around the Downtown Marriott where it was held. Attendees were advised not to wear conference badges on the street.

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