Standing before poster boards filled with text snippets of sexual scenes, Layton faith leader Chuck Beickel called on the authors of the 13 titles banned last month from all Utah public schools to repent.
Beickel, of Faith Baptist Church, said in his sermon at the Capitol last week that “God is the secret to America’s greatness,” speaking at a Thursday gathering hosted by Rep. Ken Ivory, R-West Jordan, to celebrate Utah’s latest sensitive materials law. Beickel argued that the U.S. government is rooted in Christianity and Christian values.
“These authors will bow their knees before the King of kings and Lord of lords, and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,” he preached. “I hope they will repent of what they’ve done and receive Jesus Christ as their savior.”
Also in attendance were Congressman Burgess Owens, Utah State Board of Education member Jennie Earl, a collection of Christian parents and members of Utah Parents United, a conservative parental rights group that has actively supported the sensitive materials law, were also present.
The 12 poster boards behind Beickel displayed snippets from separate books, with the font enlarged for viewing from a distance. Six featured excerpts from books that have already been banned from all Utah public schools. The six others represented titles that event organizers deemed explicit and potentially deserving of statewide removal.
Pink sticky notes covered some words and phrases as a precaution against violating Utah’s obscenity laws, Ivory said.
On Aug. 2, the state school board released the list of 13 titles that needed to be pulled from all public schools in accordance with the new law. Nearly half were written by popular fantasy romance author Sarah J. Maas, including the entire “A Court of Thorns and Roses” series.
Ivory described the date of the list’s release as a “bright day” for the state, framing it as a counterpoint to an Aug. 5 KSL News headline that, according to Ivory, previously read, “‘A dark day’: Removal of 13 books from all public school libraries in Utah prompts strong reactions.”
Ivory also criticized the headline in an Aug. 23 guest opinion piece published in the Deseret News. Representatives from KSL did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Salt Lake Tribune.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Rep. Ken Ivory, R-West Jordan, alongside conservative parents, at the Capitol for an event celebrating the removal of 13 books from public schools statewide on Thursday Aug. 29, 2024.
“These are criminally indecent and pornographic materials,” Ivory said before a small crowd. “We had some media that announced and said that it was a ‘dark day’ when we were protecting children from materials that [the media] can’t quote.”
Ivory was the driving force behind HB29, the law that now mandates the removal of a book from all public schools in the state if at least three school districts (or at least two school districts and five charter schools) deem it “objective sensitive material” — pornographic or otherwise indecent content, as defined by Utah code.
The law, which took effect on July 1, applied retroactively to titles previously banned by individual districts. Over the summer, districts and charter schools were instructed to reevaluate the books they had already banned before that date, using the state’s new “objective sensitive material” criteria, which had not been in place before.
According to that criteria, a book can be considered “objective sensitive material” if it contains at least one (or all) of the following:
A description or depiction of “human genitals in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal.”
A description or depiction of “acts of human masturbation, sexual intercourse, or sodomy.”
A description or depiction of “fondling or other erotic touching of human genitals or [the] pubic region.”
Owens labeled the 13 banned books as “smut” and said there is an ongoing “battle for the hearts of our nation.”
“What’s seen here in these books is Marxist ideology that hates everything we stand for,” Owens said.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Rep. Burgess Owens at the Capitol for an event celebrating the removal of 13 books from public schools statewide on Thursday Aug. 29, 2024.
Marxism is a theory by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that critiques capitalism and advocates for a classless society with collective ownership of production to address social inequality.
Maas’ “Court of Thorns and Roses” series follows a young woman named Feyre Archeron who is taken to the faerie realm as punishment for killing a wolf who was a faerie in disguise. There, she faces various challenges, including curses, wars and complex romantic relationships.
Several speakers at Thursday’s event likened the books to pornography.
“Pornography has existed since ancient times, and it was often in the form of books,” said Darby Holmes, a concerned Utahn. “Yet today, written pornography is mistakenly seen as more acceptable than the visual forms.”
Holmes argued that adults who allow children to read the books have “malicious intent.”
“It’s our job and our duty as adults to protect children from other adults,” Holmes said. “That’s just the truth of it.”
Ivory, in an interview with The Tribune after the event, added, “Public school is a place to instill virtue and teach children self-governance and help them grow.”
Supporters of the statewide book ban law have argued it’s meant to protect children from accessing porn. But Gretchen Zaitzeff, president of the Utah Educational Library Media Association, previously told The Tribune that ”we have a semantics problem.”
“The foundational definition used to describe ‘sensitive materials’ is different than the legal definition used to describe pornography,” Zaitzeff said. “... If these works that are under reconsideration were actually pornographic, they would have been out of school long before today.”
The library media association was one of several literary and education organizations — as well as the Utah chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union — that together penned an open letter to Gov. Spencer Cox urging him to veto the bill. Cox did not respond to the letter, Zaitzeff said.
Several other speakers Thursday quoted verses from the Bible and said Utah was “standing against evil” by removing the books from public schools.
“I don’t see how anyone can see that these things, right here, prepare our children for a successful life,” said Julia Lee, who spoke at the event and identified herself as a born-again Christian. “The only successful life this would prepare you for is a life of pornography, sex work, abuse, addiction, abortion, and finally, despair. This literally robs [children] of their innocence.”
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Julia Lee speaks during an event at the Capitol celebrating the removal of 13 books from public schools statewide, on Thursday Aug. 29, 2024.
Under the law, Utah State Board of Education leadership have 30 days from the moment a statewide ban is instituted to decide whether or not to overturn it. To do so, three or more members must request that the material be placed on a board meeting agenda within that time frame, so leaders can vote on the matter.
If no hearing is held, the statewide removal stands.
On the day the statewide book ban list was released, the Salt Lake City Public Library pledged to keep all 13 titles on its shelves.
“As a public library, SLCPL strongly believes in freedom of knowledge, freedom of information, and freedom of imagination,” library officials said in a statement. “This is intellectual freedom. A founding value of public libraries is trust that individuals can choose for themselves what to read and what to believe. No one should decide that for you, or for your children.”
Ivory said “there’s still more work to be done” when it comes to removing books statewide, but he did not offer any specifics.
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