A Virginia woman who led a ‘parent’s choice’ movement to restrict student access to sexually explicit books like Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “Beloved” has become a central figure in the state’s gubernatorial race.
Laura Murphy targeted “Beloved” in particular after her son, then a high school senior, claimed to have nightmares stemming from Morrison’s rendering of slavery, which includes scenes depicting bestiality and infanticide.
In 2016, Murphy convinced the state’s GOP-controlled General Assembly to pass a law allowing parents to to opt their children out of sexually explicit reading assignments.
But Terry McAuliffe, then-Virginia’s governor, vetoed the bill. McAuliffe, a Democrat, is seeking a second (non-consecutive) term. He’s in a neck-and-neck race with Republican Glenn Youngkin.
Youngkin has recently featured Murphy in an ad. The Washington Post reports:
In the 60-second video, Murphy speaks directly into the camera.
“When my son showed me his reading material, my heart sunk,” she says. “It was some of the most explicit reading material you can imagine.”
McAuliffe’s vetoes show that “he doesn’t think parents should have a say,” she says. “He shut us out.”
Murphy’s son is now a lawyer at the National Republican Congressional Committee.
More from The Post:
“In the final week of this race, Glenn Youngkin has doubled down on the same divisive culture wars that have fueled his campaign from the very beginning,” McAuliffe said in a written statement. “Youngkin’s closing message of book banning and silencing esteemed Black authors is a racist dog whistle designed to gin up support from the most extreme elements of his party — mainly his top endorser and surrogate, Donald Trump.”
Youngkin’s campaign told The Post the bill in question “would simply have notified parents of sexually explicit reading assignments and given them the choice of having their child receive an alternative. McAuliffe continues to confirm every day that he wants to silence parents because he doesn’t believe they should have a say in their child’s education.”
Vice provides important context:
‘Beloved’ won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988 and was a finalist for the National Book Award. Set during Reconstruction, the novel is about a mother who killed her infant daughter in order to protect her from the horrors of slavery. The book also includes scenes of sexual assault and bestiality.
The book has been on the AP Literature exam more than a dozen times since 1990, according to a frequently-cited list of titles tested on the exam since 1970. The American Library Association also said it was one of the 100 most frequently banned books between 2010 and 2019.
