Newton Senior’s ‘Banned Books’ Photo with Governor Goes Viral

At first, Leo Friedman didn’t even want to go to the ceremony to receive his Iowa Governor’s Scholar certificate.

He didn’t want to pose for a picture with Gov. Kim Reynolds and pretend like he was okay with her education policies, which include restricting the books schools can have in their libraries, and redefining “age-appropriate” to mean any book that does not “include any material with descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act” listed under Iowa Code Section 702.17.

So Leo wore a RAYGUN shirt with the text, “I read banned books,” to the ceremony—knowing he would take a picture with Reynolds.

“Books are really meaningful to me, and I’ve just never seen any good arguments for banning books,” he said. “You shouldn’t ban a book just because it has a certain group of people that you don’t want people students to know about.”

His friend, Marin, also wore a RAYGUN shirt. Hers read, “Public money for public schools,” a nod toward the state’s new school voucher law that will transfer taxpayer money to private schools.

Bravo, kids! 🤟🏼😏 pic.twitter.com/ZoSoAFJFbo

— Ashley Votes Blue ☮️ (@KuckelmanAshley) May 2, 2023

Leo, a senior at Newton High School, said he’s had valuable conversations in class about other books that frequently show up on banned lists, such as “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “1984.” Leo said he’s also read a few books with LGBTQ characters and he doesn’t see a problem with any of it.

“Books about sexual orientation, banning them is or making it easier to ban them, is just not right because so many people are part of that community,” Leo said. “And even if it’s a community that the people in our government don’t like, you need to value the opinions of all types of people.”

“You wouldn’t ban the Bible to make people stop being Christian,” he continued. “So why should we ban these books? To stop people from learning about these things? And it’s not like the books are turning people gay.”

Leo said Reynolds didn’t seem to be happy about the shirt, but he said he didn’t do it for her. He said he did it to send a message to other Iowa students.

“I love that these people can see what I’ve done, what we’ve done, and be proud of our generation and be inspired to do more themselves,” he said.

Leo wasn’t the only one demonstrating either.

He and Marin went viral alongside Clementine Springsteen, a trans woman from Davenport West High School, who shouted: “Trans rights are human rights!” after accepting her certificate and posing with Reynolds and Gregg.

According to Clementine, those three weren’t the only ones who used their clothing to make a point at the ceremony.

A Davenport West High School senior yelled "Trans rights are human rights" during a scholarship ceremony with Gov. Kim Reynolds today.

Reynolds has signed legislation blocking gender-affirming care for trans youth and a "bathroom bill" this session. pic.twitter.com/P1hoK8F12J

— Iowa Starting Line (@IAStartingLine) May 1, 2023

Leo said he didn’t expect it to go viral. But he said it helped him realize there’s a bigger community of people who feel the same way.

“I think one of the main messages is that students care about this, and students and people in the education system don’t like what the legislature is doing,” he said. “I was just putting a face to this feeling that so many people feel.”

Nikoel Hytrek
5/11/23

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