‘WHAT ARE WE DOING?’

Cop Conducts Search for ‘Gender Queer’ Book in Eighth-Grade Classroom

An ACLU attorney likened the search to being “the sort of thing you hear about in communist China and Russia.”

The American Civil Liberties Union says it has “deep concerns” after a police officer in plain clothes entered a classroom, turned on his body camera, and searched for a book someone reported was sexually explicit. The search occurred in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, with the officer—reportedly escorted by the school’s principal—searching an eighth grade English classroom for the book Gender Queer: a Memoir, by Maia Kobabe. The officer didn’t find the book, but police insisted they were obligated to investigate, as a complaint came straight to them. The school district apologized for how the situation was handled, writing in a statement it “clearly and unequivocally” doesn’t support book banning. Ruth A. Bourquin, a senior managing attorney for the ACLU in Massachusetts, told The Berkshire Eagle her organization requested the body-camera footage and plans to probe the incident. “Police going into schools and searching for books is the sort of thing you hear about in communist China and Russia,” she said. “What are we doing?”