THIS EPISODE, y'all. Christine and Jessica have an absolutely fascinating conversation with Courtney Gore, a school board member from Granbury ISD. Courtney ran on a campaign to change what was happening in public schools because she'd heard that there were groups actively trying to sexualize children, particularly through the "Social and Emotional Learning" (or SEL) curriculum. When she was elected, she asked to see all of the curriculum for the schools in her district and read it all. And then--she changed her mind. She realized the goal of the books and class lessons was to teach kids to be kinder, more welcoming people. She decided to share the good news publicly with her community that the agenda she'd been told was targeting kids did not exist in the Granbury schools--only to receive death threats. What happened next, and what she learned about WHY books are being banned and schools are being targeted, is just stunning. You won't want to miss a minute of this one!
"The Beautiful and Banned" is produced by Jessica Goudeau and Christine Renee Miller. Follow us on social media: @beautifulandbannedpod, @christinereneemiller, and @jessica_goudeau.
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Our co-producer, Rob Heath, wrote and performed our theme music. Kalin Siegwalddesigned our logo. Steph Karpuek is our amazing podcast assistant. This is A Sisters By Different Misters Production.
Join us next week as Christine and Jessica dig into many of the things they learned in this conversation, including watching The Mind Polluters--the documentary that drove Courtney's campaign (and the work of many other people) in the first place.
Episode 6 Links:
- More about Courtney Gore
- In late 2021/early 2022, Granbury administrators pulled more than 100 library books off the shelves; the superintendent told librarians that knew many of the books did not talk about sex but did have LGBTQ themes.
- The May 2024 ProPublica feature about Gore: "She Campaigned for a Texas School Board Seat as a GOP Hard-Liner. Now She’s Rejecting Her Party’s Extremism."
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