A group of Georgia mothers called the “Mama Bears” just won $100,000 from the Forsyth County Board of Education that banned them from reading an X-rated book at a meeting— even though the same book with obscene passages is readily available in its libraries.
Alison Hair, a member of the “Mama Bears,” was barred from Board meetings for defiantly reading sections from a book called “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.” (It contains graphic descriptions of oral sex.)
Hair repeatedly confronted Board members over the book’s sexually explicit details, which her young son was able to read despite its content. Finally, School Board Chairman Wesley McCall rudely told her “We understand your point” in the middle of her remarks. “’My son’s a minor, and this book that you all have copies of is in my son’s middle school,” she responded as she attempted to finish.
After trying to address the board again at another meeting a month later, Hair was told by McCall in a letter that she was banned from all future meetings. Yet the “Mama Bears” and their supporters continued the fight, saying if the book is too explicit to read aloud at a Board of Education meeting, it shouldn’t be available to children in a school library.
And a court agreed.
The “Mama Bears” were awarded just under $18 in nominal damages and the Forsyth County school system was ordered to pay their $100,000 legal fees. And the explicit books are now gone from the district’s school libraries.
This First Amendment court win is part of a growing nationwide campaign by parents who publicly challenge Boards of Education over the availability of books inappropriate for children. Parents like Hair are encouraged to read aloud passages during Board public comment periods, a tactic that ultimately prevailed over the Forsyth County School Board.
