A federal judge has mandated the reinstatement of books addressing gender and race topics in school libraries located on military bases in Kentucky, Virginia, Italy, and Japan.
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On Monday, a federal court ordered the Department of Defense to reinstate books concerning race and gender topics to five school libraries situated on military installations.
Earlier this year, a group of 12 students attending Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools on military bases in Virginia, Kentucky, Italy, and Japan filed a complaint alleging violations of their First Amendment rights. These students, ranging from pre-kindergarten through 11th grade and all children of active-duty military personnel, challenged the removal of nearly 600 books from their school libraries.
Represented by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) along with its Kentucky and Virginia branches, the families sought a court order demanding the return of all books and educational materials that had been quarantined or removed under the pretext of complying with recent executive directives.
In the early months of the year, former President Trump issued executive orders instructing federal agencies to eliminate and ban materials perceived to promote “gender ideology” and “discriminatory equity ideology.”
Following this, in January, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth released memoranda titled Restoring America’s Fighting Force and Identity Months Dead at DoD. These directives prohibited instruction involving Critical Race Theory (CRT), Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, and gender ideology. Additionally, they forbade the use of official Department of Defense resources to commemorate heritage months such as Black History Month, Women’s History Month, and Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month.
The plaintiffs reported that DoDEA administrators circulated emails instructing educators to remove certain books and cancel lesson plans or events that might conflict with these executive orders and departmental policies.
The books withdrawn from the military base school libraries addressed subjects including sexual orientation, racial issues, and LGBTQ pride. A detailed inventory of these titles is available here.
In some cases, elementary schools discontinued Black History Month celebrations, middle school teachers were ordered to take down posters featuring figures like education advocate Malala Yousafzai and artist Frida Kahlo, and another school canceled its Holocaust Remembrance Day observance.
The ACLU’s motion highlighted that students who voiced opposition to these removals faced disciplinary actions and grew increasingly reluctant to engage in discussions about race and gender in class, fearing repercussions from educators wary of violating the executive orders and DoDEA guidelines.
In her ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles sided with the students and their families, stating that the book removals were not motivated by educational concerns but rather by “improper partisan motivations.” Judge Giles mandated that the Department of Defense promptly restore all removed books and curricular materials.
Neither the Department of Defense nor the Department of Defense Education Activity has issued a statement in response to requests for comment.
