- Penguin Random House is suing a Florida school district and board after it banned certain books.
- The publisher claimed that Escambia County targeted books with race and LGBTQ themes.
Penguin Random House has joined forces with an authors' group to sue a Florida school district after it banned a number of books.
In a lawsuit filed in a Florida district court, Penguin – along with the nonprofit PEN America, several authors, and two parents – claimed that Escambia Country School District and School Board had violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments by removing or restricting books from school libraries.
The plaintiffs argue the district disproportionately targeted books "by or about people of color and/or LGBTQ people." Books removed or restricted by Escambia include "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison, "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut, and "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini.
The five authors involved in the suit are Sarah Brannen, David Levithan, George M. Johnson and Ashley Hope Pérez, and Kyle Lukoff. All have had books removed from libraries or had student access restricted by the district, PEN America said in a press release.
"The disproportionate focus of the removal efforts is not an accident," the lawsuit stated. "The book removals and restrictions enacted by the School District and School Board are denying students access to books they would like to read, or chilling such access."
Penguin Random House CEO Nihar Malaviya said in a press release: "Censorship, in the form of book bans like those enacted by Escambia County, are a direct threat to democracy and our constitutional rights."
It was the first time that the world's largest book publisher had taken such legal action.
The lawsuit cites PEN analysis that found more than 40% of books temporarily or permanently removed from school libraries nationwide last year had LGBTQ themes or prominent LGBTQ characters. More than a fifth directly addressed issues of race or racism, per the analysis.
Penguin and PEN are seeking an injunction to get the books returned to libraries. PEN said its Index of School Book Bans indicated that Florida had one of the highest rates of book removals and restrictions in America.
The lawsuit follows Disney's ongoing dispute with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis that began when the company publicly criticized the so-called "Don't Say Gay" bill, which bans discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in schools.
Disney's objections sparked a feud with DeSantis that culminated in a lawsuit in late April. Disney accused DeSantis of trying to "weaponize government power" by threatening its business operations. A DeSantis-appointed board then countersued the media giant.
The removal of books from public libraries gained attention in late 2021, when a Texas state legislator compiled and sent to the Texas Education Agency a list of 850 books he believed schools should review for objectionable content. They mostly covered issues around sexuality, gender, and race.
In April an Idaho library banned six books it deemed "harmful" to children. Several, including "Gender Queer" by Maia Kobabe, involved LGBTQ+ themes.