Families rally around LGBTQ books in schools. Here’s how often they’re checked out.
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- Over 400 Chapel Hill‑Carrboro parents signed op‑ed supporting LGBTQ families & libraries.
- District data show 58 LGBTQ titles across 10 elementary libraries, varied checkout rates.
- House committee scrutiny and a proposed CHCCS Act prompted parent criticism and debate.
Hundreds of Chapel Hill-Carrboro parents are speaking out for LGBTQ families and urging lawmakers to focus on the state’s problems instead of books that data shows in some cases are rarely checked out.
Parent Anne Tindall decided to write an op-ed for The News & Observer after reading about a House committee’s grilling last week of Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Superintendent Rodney Trice and his Director of Digital Learning and Libraries Al McArthur.
House Majority Leader Brenden Jones is “punching down” by singling out children who already feel different, Tindall said.
“Going through that as a trans kid, as a parent of a trans kid, is really hard, and to have legislators use these kids as a punching bag just infuriates me,” she said. “Why do we need to make them feel more different, singled out for their books about their very existence?”
Parents started sharing the op-ed, gathering over 400 signatures by Wednesday.
Parents in the 11,114-student district “overwhelmingly support our children’s access to books with characters that all of our kids can relate to and books that accurately reflect the world our kids live in rather than the one some lawmakers appear eager to impose upon them,” it states.
The parents urge Jones and other committee members to focus on passing a state budget and funding public schools and teachers, instead of “a voucher program that serves wealthy families and practically no one else.”
The op-ed also calls for more housing and childcare, so families can afford to live in the CHCCS and other school districts.
“We should be focusing on what we need to do, which is passing a state budget, and leave our libraries alone,” said CHCCS parent Tana Byrum. “Representation matters, and our kids deserve to have that representation in the books in their libraries.”
Some parents want the books pulled
Parents who are or may be concerned about the books are less outspoken in the progressive district, which has received just one such email from a parent, district spokesman Andy Jenks said. Another CHCCS parent has filed a complaint, he said, declining to name that person.
The parent who sent the email declined to talk with The N&O.
In a statement provided by Christian advocacy group NC Values Coalition, Chapel Hill parent Ning Huang said she pulled her children from CHCCS schools to homeschool them, because as a conservative Christian mother, she is “deeply concerned about the rapid rise in youth identifying as homosexual or gender-fluid.”
Huang cited a Gallup poll that found over 1 in 5 Gen Z adults, ages 18 to 26, identified as LGBTQ+ in 2023, compared to 5% or less of adults ages 43 and older. It’s not just genetics, she said, but “is clearly being driven by gender ideology promoted through schools, children’s television programs, movies, and social media.”
“I was not the only mother who made this choice,” Huang said. “Schools should focus on teaching students the essential skills they truly need — reading, writing, science, math, and critical thinking — rather than encouraging young children to explore sexual orientation or question their God-given biological identity.”
How popular are the CHCCS library books?
The committee’s book list and district data from Jenks shows:
- There are 58 LGBTQ book titles in 10 CHCCS elementary libraries. Some are in multiple schools, for 155 total books districtwide.
- Northside Elementary has the most — 33 — followed by Scroggs Elementary with 25. Frank Porter Graham only has five titles.
- Most books are nonfiction and biographies about LGBTQ people and movements; stories about LBGTQ characters navigating gender roles and childhood social and emotional challenges; and books that reflect diverse families.
- One book — “Grandad’s Pride,” by Harry Woodgate — drew Jones’ ire for showing two gay men, one in fetish gear, kissing at a Pride parade.
- The most popular book is “The Witch Boy,” about a 13-year-old boy who wants to be a witch like the girls and finds help from a friend who doesn’t conform to gender roles. It is in four libraries and has been checked out 153 times since being purchased.
- The second-most popular is “Julian is a Mermaid,” about a boy worried about his grandmother’s reaction if he dresses up in a mermaid costume. It is in all 10 schools and has been checked out 71 times.
- Sixteen books haven’t been checked out since 2023, and eight have been on the shelf since they were purchased.
There are no library books she “wouldn’t want my child to read,” said Tana Byrum, a CHCCS parent and former teacher who described how young students check out one or two library books each week, sometimes using a recommended list.
“You know, everything that your child sees and reads isn’t going to align with your values, but it opens up great conversation, and I will never shy away from a conversation with my child,” Byrum said.
Parents defend district decisions
Jones, a Republican from Tabor City and co-chair of the House Standing Committee on Oversight and Reform, has had CHCCS in his crosshairs since October, when he called to question the district’s implementation of the Parents’ Bill of Rights.
The 2023 law regulates parental involvement in a child’s health and education, requires staff to tell parents before using a different name or pronoun for a student, and bans gender identity, sexual activity or sexuality instruction in grades K-4. Jones proposed a bill last week — the Curriculum Honesty, Compliance, and Child Safety (CHCCS) Act — that pulls funding from non-compliant districts.
He also alleged CHCCS is losing students because of its LGBTQ-friendly books and policies. A recent data report shows the reason for a 1,547-student decline since 2020 is complicated, including lower birth rates, more education options and private school vouchers, rising home prices and rent, and a sharp drop in the foreign-born population.
The enrollment decline is happening statewide, The N&O has reported, and Chapel Hill-Carrboro’s school board is responding by cutting costs and positions. This spring, it could decide which elementary schools to close.
Tindall suggested state lawmakers consult with more parents before regulating parents’ rights. The support that CHCCS staff and the school board provide “was what was attractive to us, and I think that is attractive to lots of people,” she said.
CHCCS parent Liz Harden agreed.
“One of the reasons I remain in this district, in spite of the rising cost of living here, is because of how welcoming our district is to all students … and because of the school board that will fight for our students to have representation in the library of all different types of people,” Harden said.
This story was originally published April 29, 2026 at 1:07 PM.
