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A school district and school board in Florida’s Escambia County were sued in federal court by free expression group PEN America and Penguin Random House, one of the largest book publishers in the world, and several prominent authors and families following dozens of challenges to books and materials discussing race, racism and LGBT+ people. The lawsuit filed in US District Court on 17 May argues that school officials have joined an “ideologically driven campaign to push certain ideas out of schools” and against the recommendation of experts. “This disregard for professional guidance underscores that the agendas underlying the removals are ideological and political, not pedagogical,” the lawsuit states. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has ushered through sweeping laws to control public school education and lessons and speech he deems to be objectionable while characterising reporting on the impacts of such policies as a “hoax” and a “fake narrative” manufactured by the press. In Escambia County alone, nearly 200 books have been challenged, at least 10 books have been removed by the school board, five books were removed by district committees, and 139 books require parental permission, according to PEN America. Challenging such materials is “depriving students of access to a wide range of viewpoints, and depriving the authors of the removed and restricted books of the opportunity to engage with readers and disseminate their ideas to their intended audiences” in violation of the First Amendment, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit also argues that singling out materials by and about nonwhite and LGBT+ people is an intentional violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment “This is no accident,” according to the lawsuit. “The clear agenda behind the campaign to remove the books is to categorically remove all discussion of racial discrimination or [LGBT+] issues from public school libraries. Government action may not be premised on such discriminatory motivations.” Two Penguin Random House Titles – Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Push by Sapphire – have been removed. And several other Penguin titles – including Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner and Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five – are currently under review. “Books have the capacity to change lives for the better, and students in particular deserve equitable access to a wide range of perspectives,” Penguin Random House CEO Nihar Malaviya said in a statement. “Censorship, in the form of book bans like those enacted by Escambia County, are a direct threat to democracy and our Constitutional rights.” Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America, added that “children in a democracy must not be taught that books are dangerous.” “In Escambia County, state censors are spiriting books off shelves in a deliberate attempt to suppress diverse voices,” she added. “In a nation built on free speech, this cannot stand. The law demands that the Escambia County School District put removed or restricted books back on library shelves where they belong.” Titles from authors who joined the suit – including Sarah Brannen, David Levithan, George M Johnson, Ashley Hope Perez and Kyle Lukoff – have either been removed or faced restrictions for students to access them. “As a former public high school English teacher, I know firsthand how important libraries are,” Ashley Hope Perez, author of Out of Darkness, one of the books targeted by the school district, said in a statement. “For many young people, if a book isn’t in their school library, it might as well not exist.” The book removals followed objections from one language arts teacher in the county, and in each case the school board voted to remove the books despite recommendations from a district review committee that approved them. The teacher’s objections appear to be lifted from a website called Book Looks, founded by a member of Moms for Liberty, a right-wing group aligned with Governor DeSantis to pressure school boards and libraries to remove content it deems objectionable, largely around LGBT+ rights, race and discrimination. The basis for that teacher’s challenges “are nakedly ideological,” according to the lawsuit. In one instance, she admitted that she had never heard of the book The Perks of Being a Wallflower but included the title and a “parental book rating” and excerpts that appear to have been lifted from Book Looks. Her challenge to Race and Policing in Modern America, a nonfiction book for middle school readers, claims that the book promotes “the idea that all police are bad” and that “non-blacks are racist” and its purpose is to “race bait”. She did not include any specific examples of objectionable content, and “her sole objection was that the book addresses a topic – the intersection of race and policing – that she did not consider suitable for discussion in schools.” The Independent has requested comment from Escambia County school board members. The district is unable to comment on pending litigation. There have been at least 1,477 attempts to ban 874 individual book titles within the first half of the 2022-2023 school year, according to PEN America. The figures mark a nearly 30 per cent spike from book challenges over the previous year. Last year, a record high of more than 1,200 attempts to remove books from schools and libraries were reported to the American Library Association. More than 100 bills in state legislatures across the country this year threaten to cut library budgets, implement book rating systems, regulate the kinds of books and materials in their collections, and amend obscenity definitions that preempt First Amendment protections, according to a database from EveryLibrary. Read More The book ban surge gripping America’s schools and libraries The school librarian in the middle of Louisiana’s war on libraries ‘They were trying to erase us’: Inside a Texas town’s chilling effort to ban LGBT+ books John Green on book bans, bad faith, and the ‘history of folks trying to control what other folks can read’

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Follow The Independent's live coverage of all the action in the FA Women’s Super League today. The WSL is the top tier of English women’s football with international players from all over the world plying their trade in one of the most competitive and entertaining leagues around. Chelsea have won three of the past four titles and Emma Hayes’ side will be right in the hunt again, with the likes of Arsenal - champions in 2018-19 – and Manchester City, who have been runners-up for each of the past four seasons, among their competitors. With the top three sides qualifying for the UEFA Women’s Champions League, all 12 WSL teams have plenty to play for, although some clubs’ main ambition will simply be to avoid the drop. The side who finish bottom will be relegated to the FA Women’s Championship – a fate that befell Bristol City in 2020-21 – and newly-promoted Leicester City, competing in the top flight of the women’s game for the first time, will be eager to avoid an immediate return. We will bring you all the action and updates from today's game in the live blog below:

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Brentford striker Ivan Toney has been suspended from all football-related activity with immediate effect for eight months and fined £50,000, the FA has announced. The England international was charged with 262 breaches of the Football Association’s betting rules between 25 February 2017 and 23 January 2021. The FA withdrew 30 of the breaches, and he admitted to the remaining 232. His sanctions were imposed by an independent Regulatory Commission following a hearing. Toney can return to training only with his club for the final four months of his suspension, starting from 17 September 2023. Brentford issued a statement, saying: “Brentford FC notes the decision of an independent Regulatory Commission to issue an eight-month ban from all football and football-related activity to Ivan Toney with immediate effect.” The 27-year-old, who has scored 20 goals for Brentford in the Premier League this season was charged with breaking FA rule E8, which refers to players being barred from betting on games or sharing information for betting purposes. Newcastle and England defender Kieran Trippier was handed a 10 week ban in December 2020 for giving information out for others to bet on his transfer to Atletico Madrid from Tottenham. More follows Read More Man City brush aside Everton to close in on title as Brighton stun Arsenal Brentford vs West Ham LIVE: Latest Premier League updates James Milner came to Liverpool and won the lot - an era ends with his departure

Writers’ group PEN America and publisher Penguin Random House have sued a Florida school district over its removal of books about race and LGBTQ+ identities

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