Speaking Out Against Book Bans

I spoke out against book bans at the Laramie County School District 1 Board meeting on July 18th. This is what I told them:

I am Ted Hanlon. I have been supported by Laramie County School District 1 educators and staff since I started at Arp Elementary in 1964. My children were educated by another generation of excellent professionals in this district. So, it is time I supported them.

I am sure the folks that are asking you to ban books are attentive parents. They wouldn’t be here otherwise. They will watch what their children read and ensure that they are not exposed to any “nefarious plots.” Therefore, the book ban is not about their children, it is about their desire to take freedoms from other people’s children. That is just not the Wyoming way. We value personal freedom above all else in Wyoming. We live and let live. It isn’t right, anywhere in this country, to decide what other people are allowed to think, but it is especially despicable here. I urge you to let the educators put every book in the curriculum and the library that they find appropriate and let every parent have the freedom to decide what their children read. The book banners use the word “liberty”, so I will leave you with a line from The Princess Bride, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”