Parents, teachers, and community members will rally outside the Harford County Public Schools (HCPS) Board of Education at 5 p.m. Monday in opposition to the board’s decision to ban the book “Flamer” by Mike Curato from school libraries.
Rally-goers are worried about political ideology and anti-LGBTQ+ narratives framing their public schools’ educational materials and the secrecy surrounding the decision.
Organized by Together We Will Harford County (TWW), the rally is pushing for reinstatement of the book they say was banned in secrecy, which would be a violation of Open Meetings requirements, in addition to arguing that the ban itself is a violation of state and federal First Amendment rights. “Flamer” is a graphic novel with a 14-year-old queer protagonist navigating sexuality, bullying, and suicidal ideation while away at summer camp. Common Sense Media’s review gave it five stars (out of five) and rated it for ages 15 and older. TWW will be joined by the Harford County Education Association and other community members at the rally.
“It’s been very upsetting and frustrating, first of all, because this process has happened in secret behind closed doors, in violation of Open Meeting rules, in violation of our state law,” DeLane Lewis, president of TWW, told Baltimore Fishbowl. “It’s been very upsetting for them to characterize this as a that they are reflecting community values, because in no way does this community support banning of books, and so we are very determined to deliver that message to them.”
Lewis said there was no formal public disclosure that the book had been banned, only that on the Board of Education’s website the book changed from being “Under Review” to “Removed.” A Reconsideration Committee that included a librarian, an administrator, two parents, two students and a community member reviewed the book, per district process, and recommended keeping it on the shelves for middle and high school libraries. HCPS Board of Education overrode that decision and removed it in a vote of 5-3.
In a letter to the Maryland Association of School Librarians dated July 30, 2025, BOE president Aaron Poynton defended the school board’s vote, calling accusations of politically motivated censorship “entirely misguided and unfounded.” He insisted the decision was solely age-based.
Poynton listed ten phrases from the book containing sexual profanity and slurs against LGBTQ+ people and wrote the book’s “pervasively vulgar language, graphic sexual references, depictions of domestic violence, and language that is openly demeaning and inappropriate…exceed any reasonable standard for younger minor-aged students.”
This does not explain why it is also being removed from high school libraries, as Poynton recognizes the book’s publisher designates it as appropriate for ages 14-18.
“Of the five people on the board who voted to ban the book, three of those five people are appointed and not elected,” Lewis said. “So, who are they accountable to? We have people with no accountability making decisions about our system.”
Additionally, of those five, only one has said they read the book. The other four have either been silent or admitted they have not read the book, according to Lewis. (Poynton did not answer Baltimore Fishbowl’s direct question asking if he had read the book.) The two elected officials who voted to ban the book, Melissa Hahn and Diane Alvarez, were endorsed by the group Moms for Liberty, according to Lewis.
There is no indication on the Board of Education website that a decision has been made to ban the book. The Meeting Schedule page only includes agendas dating back to July 21, 2025, but by clicking on that agenda can viewers see minutes from June’s meeting minutes. Neither of June’s meeting minutes include any mention of the book “Flamer” or a vote about keeping or removing it from the shelves, so there is no record of a vote having been taken.
This is a violation of the Closed Meetings policy, as the Public Meetings policy for HCPS states, “A statement of the time, place and purpose of any closed meeting, the vote by which any meeting was closed and the authority for closing any meetings shall be included in the minutes of the next public meeting.”
At the July 21 meeting, 55 members of the public spoke about the book ban and 53 of those were against it, wanting the book reinstated.
Maryland passed the Freedom to Read Act in 2024, which prohibits county boards of education from “politicized attacks from extremist activists seeking to ban books and deny students access to resources.”
Viewers can watch the Board of Education meeting, which begins at 6 p.m., via livestream.
