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Police Investigate: Are These VA School Districts Endorsing 'Sex Work' for Students?

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A Loudoun County, Virginia, teacher recently alerted local law enforcement authorities to an alleged conversation with a fellow staffer who defended a book about prostitution in the school's library, saying it's ok because some of the students are becoming sex workers.

Middle school students are usually around the ages of 11 to 13 years old. 

The conversation reportedly began when a middle school teacher, whose name has been withheld, asked the librarian if the school had a copy of the book Seeing Gender; an Illustrated Guide to Identity and Expression by Iris Gottlieb. The book includes a chapter titled "'Sex Work' Is Not a Bad Term," according to The Christian Post (CP). 

Seeing Gender is described by Gottlieb on the website goodreads.com as "a must-read for intelligent, curious, want-to-be woke people who care about how we see and talk about gender and sexuality in the 21st century."

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A chapter of the book describes so-called "sex work" as a normal and acceptable job. "It's a job like being a store clerk, an architect, or a freelance writer. We all, unfortunately, have to do work in order to make a living. Some of us hate our jobs and some of us love them -- the same goes for those who do sex work," the chapter claims. 

The teacher recalled seeing a recent tweet on the LCPS Can Do Better Twitter account about the book being found in the school's library. 

The teacher reportedly told police in a recorded conversation that the librarian, whose name has also been withheld for privacy reasons, confirmed the library had the book and claimed it was useful to students engaged in sex work, according to The Daily Wire

Prostitution is illegal in the state of Virginia under VA Title 18.2.  And many prostitutes are sex trafficking victims who were groomed, sexually abused, pimped, and forced into so-called "sex work" against their wishes.  

During the alleged conversation, the librarian did not reveal any names of current students but mentioned one that graduated six years ago and was allegedly involved in sex work, according to the CP

"She started talking about how there's kids who come to the library who do sex work, and this makes them feel validated," the teacher reportedly said in the interview with police. "As a teacher, if you get an individual student coming to you because you're abused, you have to go to the police immediately."

When the teacher told the librarian the book provided instructions to children about selling their bodies for hormone replacement therapy, the librarian reportedly replied, "There's no pornography in it, so it doesn't matter." 

The book was only to be checked out by eighth-graders and not younger students, the member of the school's staff allegedly said. 

Loudoun County Deputy Jamie Holben told The Daily Wire the school is located in a neighborhood where law enforcement suspects child trafficking may be occurring.  

CBN News reached out to the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office and the Loudoun County Public Schools for comments about the alleged claims made by the teacher and the investigation reported by multiple outlets.

In an email to CBN News, LCPS spokesman Wayde B. Byard said the book has been removed from all the district's schools.

"The superintendent had the book in question removed from all LCPS schools (it was not in all schools, but was an optional purchase by some libraries), pending review," he wrote. 

Byard did not respond to the allegations made by the middle school teacher about her alleged conversation with the librarian. 

According to the National Human Trafficking hotline, Virginia had a total of 119 human trafficking cases reported this year. 

As The Daily Wire reported, this is not the first instance of a book describing sex work being offered in Virginia public schools. The Richmond Public School District revealed to the outlet that they have more than 4,000 lesson plans, emails, and other materials concerning "sex work."

But if parents want to know more about the information, they will have to pay almost $20,000 to access the material. 

District officials responded to a Daily Wire Freedom of Information Act request for all records and materials invoking the term "sex work" or "sex worker," included in teaching materials and email communications between employees. The outlet reported concerned parents have said library books and teaching materials increasingly normalize sex work. 

"Given the broad scope of your revised request of email search for the terms 'sex work' and 'sex worker', out IT staff projects that upwards of 4,000 records may be retrieved in the search," the district responded to the request. The Richmond district also has the estimated charge of such a project at $19,555.40 to access, duplicate, supply, and/or search records. Half of the total amount was required upfront to begin searching.  

Sexually explicit books have been found in other Virginia schools.  Last month, a controversial gender-identity book was removed from public school libraries in Virginia Beach after school board members determined it contained inappropriate images that were "pervasively vulgar."

The Virginian Pilot reported that several board members were recently assigned to review Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe, which has been challenged by numerous parents in several school districts.

CBN's Faithwire previously reported that the book raised concerns over its graphic content that opponents say includes pornographic images and "pedophilia."

And as Faithwire reported last September, a mother in Fairfax County, VA expressed her concerns about the book Gender Queer during a school board meeting.  

Fairfax County Public Schools pulled Gender Queer from circulation in late September, The Washington Post reported. It returned to school libraries less than one month later.

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