Nov 23, 2025
Bruce Friedman, O.P.T.I.O.N.S. (Optional Parameters To Improvise Organized Nascent Sounds), (CD, Digital album), CD054, pfMENTUM, 2008
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Bruce Friedman, O.P.T.I.O.N.S. (Optional Parameters To Improvise Organized Nascent Sounds), (CD, Digital album), CD054, pfMENTUM, 2008
A year’s worth of records suggests the state’s book banning movement is narrow in scope.
A Florida conservative wants to ban "Arthur's Birthday," which follows the aardvark and his friends as they plan a joint birthday party.
Arthur, you whore
In an extraordinary press conference last week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) acknowledged that challenges to books in the state's schoo
Judd Legum at Popular Information:
In an extraordinary press conference last week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) acknowledged that challenges to books in the state's school libraries are out of control. Over the course of the event, DeSantis blamed teachers, school officials, "random people," community members, "bad actors," and the media. DeSantis pointed the finger at everyone except for the person most responsible: himself. What is happening in Florida school libraries is a direct result of legislation signed by DeSantis and regulations and guidance produced by the DeSantis administration. As a result, thousands of books, including many award-winning works of literature, have been pulled off the shelves in Florida schools, and hundreds have been banned permanently from school libraries. DeSantis claimed that he only "empowered parents to object to obscene material in the classroom." Now, he is complaining that "members of the community… just show up and object to every single book under the sun." But DeSantis and his administration have championed laws, regulations, and guidance pushing for a much broader selection of books to be removed.
In March 2022, DeSantis signed into law the Parental Rights in Education Act, also known as "Don't Say Gay." The new law stated that "classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3." The law was expanded last year to cover all grades. The text of the law clearly says these restrictions apply to "classroom instruction" — not library books. But in January 2023, the Florida Department of Education conducted mandatory training for school librarians and emphasized that there was "some overlap between the selection criteria for instructional and library materials." The training says that library books and instructional materials cannot cover "unsolicited theories that may lead to student indoctrination," which includes "sexual orientation or gender identity" as specified in the Parental Rights in Education Act. The school librarians were encouraged to "err on the side of caution" and were warned that making books prohibited by Florida law available to students could subject them to third-degree felony charges.
[...]
At last week's press conference, DeSantis said he would support legislation that would make it a bit more difficult to challenge large numbers of books. But, in May 2023, DeSantis signed legislation that made it much easier to challenge many titles. That law, HB 1069, gives residents the right to demand the removal of any library book that "depicts or describes sexual conduct," as defined under Florida law, whether or not the book is pornographic. The law also requires a school district to remove any book challenged on this basis from the library within five days, pending a formal review. The Florida Department of Education produced a memo in October 2023 advising superintendents that every book in school or classroom libraries must comply with HB 1069. The Escambia County School Board ordered a review of all books in light of the new law. At the completion of that process, more than 2800 books were removed from libraries, including three dictionaries, eight different encyclopedias, two thesauruses, and five editions of The Guinness Book of World Records. [...] DeSantis threw his support behind legislation advancing in the Florida House that "authorizes school districts to assess a processing fee of $100 for each objection to a material by a resident or parent whose student is not enrolled in the school where the material is located." The new fee would apply only after an individual files five unsuccessful challenges. This provision appears to be targeted at individuals like Vicki Baggett, the Escambia County English teacher who has personally challenged 193 books. Bruce Friedman, a resident of Clay County, has also challenged hundreds of books.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R)’s heavy-handed book-banning quest has finally bitten him in the ass good, as he is making it more difficult to make mass challenges to books like what Vicki Baggett does.
See Also:
Daily Kos: Ron DeSantis pretends he isn't at fault for book ban he signed into law
The Florida Board of Education approved training with vague language that critics worry will force educators to avoid books on race and LGBTQ people.
Nathalie Baptiste at HuffPost:
When Yvette Benarroch, a leader in the conservative Moms for Liberty chapter in Collier County, Florida, addressed the state’s Board of Education meeting on Wednesday, she exuded gratitude.
“Thank you for carrying out the governor’s parental rights agenda,” she said with a smile.
The Republican-controlled Florida Legislature passed a law last year saying the board, a division of the state’s Department of Education, would need to approve a training program for public schools in the state. Training would be mandatory for all media specialists, who are in charge of finding and approving educational resources, and for teachers who have books in their classrooms.
Beyond saying that schools needed to be transparent about why they had selected instructional materials, the law didn’t outline what that training should look like, and state education officials convened a working group — made up largely of parents, educators and school staff, including some people who have previously tried to ban books from schools — to draft the new training.
The final training, which the Board of Education approved this week, focuses on shielding kids from books about racial justice and books with LGBTQ themes. This made many conservatives happy, and it was a victory for Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, a likely 2024 presidential contender who has highlighted so-called parental rights and “anti-wokeness” in his political platform. He has sought to ax workplace diversity initiatives (an effort that was thwarted by a federal judge), has appointed conservatives to the board of a progressive college, pushed right-wing higher education officials to ban discussion of “critical race theory” and has championed the “Don’t Say Gay” law that prohibits public school teachers from talking about sexual orientation or gender identity.
His success in transforming Florida public schools into breeding grounds for far-right ideas wouldn’t be possible without the help of Moms for Liberty, a nonprofit organization that advocates for parents’ rights — a term that has become synonymous with pushing conservative ideology in public schools. Moms for Liberty has been on a book-banning crusade since its inception, and at least two of the working group members on the media specialist training belonged to Florida chapters.
This shift in Florida has taken place as public libraries and schools have been under attack around the U.S. Right-wing culture warriors have in particular pushed for institutions to ban books with LGBTQ themes, claiming they are inherently pornographic and that school librarians who don’t want to remove them from shelves are trying to abuse or “groom” children.
[...]
New Guidance Sparks Fear
The new training is supposed to pertain only to instructional materials. But because school librarians are also media specialists, some districts have begun citing the guidance — even before the final training was approved — as justification for removing books from their libraries.
“It’s just another way for the far right to say that you can’t trust public schools to deliver an education to your children,” Ferrell said.
The Florida Department of Education did not respond to a request for comment.
The new training, which can be found on the Florida Department of Education’s website, includes 40 slides and a 52-minute video. The beginning of the training is dedicated to the subject of pornography and states that no one may provide minors with sexually explicit or other harmful material unless it has “serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.”
Nanny state fascist Florida “Governor” Ron DeSantis (R)’s dangerous anti-American agenda on education notches another victory for book-banning zealots and a loss for common sense, as the state’s Board of Education approved a training program for all media specialists in the state’s public schools who decide whether to approve or reject educational materials to be used.
Judd Legum and Rebecca Crosby at Popular Information:
This year, at least 102 books have been removed from the shelves of school libraries in Clay County, Florida. Many of these books were pulled at the request of one man: Bruce Friedman. A conservative activist and longtime resident of New York, Friedman moved to Clay County this May.
And Friedman says he is just getting started. During a November 28 meeting of the Florida Department of Education Library Media Working Group, Friedman said he had compiled "a list of over 3,600 titles that I believe have concerning content," including "porn, critical race theory, social-emotional learning, [and] fluid gender." He said this list proves that "libraries have more than a little poison in them." Friedman demanded that the Department of Education "clean up this mess." If not, Friedman threatened to "perform 3,600 challenges and overwhelm your awful, awful procedures and policies."
One of the books pulled from the shelves of school libraries this year in Clay County is The Girl From The Sea, an award-winning graphic novel. The book is about a 15-year-old girl who develops romantic feelings for another girl. The two girls hold hands and, at one point, share a kiss. There is no sex, no swearing, and no nudity.
In an interview with Popular Information, Friedman described The Girl From The Sea as a book for "slightly post-pubescent little lesbians." Friedman says he objects to the book being available in Clay County libraries because students are "not in school to learn how to be better lesbians." The book exposes students to "a land of girls making out with great illustrations." According to Friedman, students should not be "focused on kissing, or petting or anything else in that general territory."
The Girl From The Sea has been removed from Clay County school libraries because of a new policy, implemented in July, that requires books to be pulled as soon as a challenge has been properly filed. The books remain unavailable to students while the challenge is being considered by a District Curriculum Council.
Friedman has exploited this policy by flooding the district with challenges. Friedman told Popular Information that, since June 30, he has "investigated between 5 and 10 thousand" books available in Clay County school libraries on "a very cursory level."
Popular Information has obtained dozens of Friedman's challenge forms through public information requests. Friedman, and a few others he recruited to assist him, filled out these forms identically. The reason for the request is to "PROTECT CHILDREN," the objectionable material is "INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT," and the impact of a student using the material is "DAMAGED SOULS." The answer to most other questions is "N/A."
Friedman is the president and founder of the Florida chapter of No Left Turn in Education, a right-wing educational group. He continues to play a similar role for the group in New York. No Left Turn in Education was founded in 2020 by Elana Yaron Fishbein. "Public schools are starting to resemble re-education camps and our cities have turned into the killing fields," the group wrote on Facebook. "It's beginning to feel like Pol Pot's Cambodia." Fishbein says there are evil forces focused on "getting to our kids, brainwashing them, indoctrinating them, and making them [a] brownshirt." Friedman said he learned about Fishbein when she appeared on Tucker Carlson's show.
[...]
Tightening the screws on school librarians
Julie Miller, the chair of the Clay County Education Association Media Committee, has been the librarian for Ridgeview High School in Clay County for nine years. Miller told Popular Information she did not encounter a single challenge to a library book until November 2021.
Starting this year, groups like No Left Turn in Education began challenging library material en masse. School officials are fearful. Since March, Miller and other Clay County librarians have been prohibited from purchasing any new books or even new copies of books that are already on the shelves. According to Miller, no official explanation has been provided for the purchasing freeze.
Under Clay County's July 2022 policy, any challenge should be reviewed by a District Curriculum Council, a rotating panel of school officials. But when the challenges from Friedman and others started flooding in, the leadership of Clay County schools handled things differently.
Before the District Curriculum Council considered a challenge, Miller and her colleagues were pressured to determine if the books were eligible to be "weeded" or "deselected." Weeding and deselection are the standard processes that librarians use to remove books that are not in use, outdated, damaged, or not appropriate for students. The librarians were also reminded that, under Florida law, they could potentially be held personally liable for making "pornographic" material available to minors.
Bruce Friedman is the founder of Florida’s chapter of right-wing “parental rights” group No Left Turn In Education. He is the architect of repeatedly filing frivolous requests to get books pulled off the school library shelves, especially if they contain LGBTQ+-affirming material that Friedman falsely labels as “pornographic.”