‘It’s Okay to be a Unicorn,’ Kids’ Book Banned From Ohio School Event

States across the U.S. are seeing an influx of book bans, aimed toward LGBTQ content and discussions in schools, we’re beginning to see how those laws and the rhetoric they promote manifests in action. Straight, cis author Jason Tharp says he was blocked from reading his book, It’s Okay to be a Unicorn, during an event at Ohio’s Buckeye Valley District because school administrators thought it was a book about being gay.

Spoiler alert: That isn’t what the book is about.

Tharp tells The Huffington Post that, last week, a school principal contacted him to let him know he wouldn’t be able to read his book at the school event, and a district teacher said they were ordered to removed student artwork related to the book from the school’s walls.

District officials also told Tharp via email that he couldn’t read his other book about a skunk, It’s Okay to Smell Good, during his visit, according to a WBNS-TV report.

Some parents thought the book was promoting a gay lifestyle, though Tharp says the book, along with the other books in his series, is truly about pushing self-confidence, boosting self-esteem, and speaking out against bullying.

“The book is actually about me as a kid. I grew up where I felt out of place,” Tharp tells ABC 6. “I was using my story of struggling because I grew up as an adult, and I didn’t like myself … and it took a brain tumor for me to realize I was being a horrible human to myself because I was internalizing so much of this stuff.”

Tharp also says that it seems like those upset over the book haven’t even cracked open the cover, which has some rainbow motifs.

“The way I look at this is that your kid’s going to go through anything—and it doesn’t mean cause there’s rainbows … that it’s a book about being gay or whatever,” Tharp says.

The district held an emergency school board meeting last Friday in response to the censorship, where most parents spoke positively about the book. According to district officials, just one parent complained and set they wanted to ensure the book was “vetted’ before being allow into the event.

Michelle Mauk, a district parent and teacher, says she was shocked that the book sparked a debate, adding that district officials are avoiding taking responsibility for the decision.

“I’m not here to entertain adults that want to project their own whatever issues onto a children’s book; I’m here to create books that inspire kids to dream big, embrace themselves, understand the importance of self-kindness, to really learn how to manage your emotions because it’s a confusing world we live in, and being a human is not easy,” Tharp says. “If an adult is struggling, that’s what therapy’s for, not my kids’ books.”