Man seeking to ban LGBTQ books over ‘sexual content’ accused of child molestation
KMBC reports.Last year, Utterback joined a growing trend of conservatives across the country demanding the removal of LGBTQ books from school libraries, often under the guise of objecting to “sexual content.”During an October 2021 school board meeting, Utterback attempted to convince North Kansas City School District to remove lesbian cartoonist Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel Fun Home, which chronicles her childhood in rural Pennsylvania, claiming it contained sexual material.In video of the meeting, Utterback can be seen holding boards showing enlarged images from Fun Home while standing alongside Northland Parent Association president Jay Richmond.Richmond demanded that Fun Home be removed from libraries and suggested that the board could be accused of solicitation of a minor for stocking the graphic novel due to its “descriptions and pictures of oral sex.”After students protested the attempted book ban, Utterback told KMBC, “I definitely understand their struggles. It’s not lost on me.