Galdos-Shapiro, a school teacher in Great Barrington (Mass.), was questioned and briefly detained in her classroom by the police over her having at her desk a copy of Gender Queer, which she had available to share with students. She sued police officials, and Judge Mark Mastroianni allowed her First and Fourth Amendment claims to go forward (Galdos-Shapiro v. Town of Great Barrington); the analysis there (see yesterday's post) is quite plausible, since the book isn't obscene, and in any event the relevant state obscenity laws excludes educational uses. The opinion doesn't include the objected-to illustrations from the book, but you can see copies of what appear to be the most controversial illustrations from a different opinion, here and here.
But the court also allowed her defamation claim to go forward as well, based on a press release that read:
On December 8, 2023 [t]he Great Barrington Police Department received a complaint from a person who witnessed what they perceived to be concerning illustrations in a book that was provided to students by a teacher at W.E.B. Dubois Middle School. The illustration provided by the witness depicted animated characters performing sexual acts on each other. Because this complaint was made directly to the police department, we are obligated and have a duty to examine the complaint further. Thanks to our established relationship with the school, we were able to carefully work together to investigate this situation. This involved immediate notification of the Superintendent and Principal of the middle school.
Because we were only provided a single image of the illustration, it was important to identify and examine the material that was reported to us. Working together, it was decided that the department would send an officer toward the end of the day in plain cloth[e]s to be escorted to the classroom and to see if the book containing the illustration could be located. After a brief conversation with the teacher, the officer was advised that the book in question was not there and could not be accounted for at that time. The officer advised the principal and teacher, that we were not there to investigate the subject matter of any books. As a procedure in sensitive or complex investigations, the police notified the District Attorney's Office.
Once the necessary information was gathered, it was determined that it is a matter to be managed within the Berkshire Hills Regional School District. The Great Barrington Police Department is dedicated to the safety of all people, especially children, and we take all complaints seriously….
