Written by Rob Sanders, and illustrated by Steven Salerno
I have never read this book before.
Ratings: Amazon: 4.9 out of 5 stars. Goodreads: 4.33 out of 5 stars.
Summary: This story is about how an openly gay man becomes the first elected official in the United States and how the LGBTQ community received their flag.
This book was pulled from Utah’s Ogden elementary schools according to a March 30, 2023 article. This happened after Ogden school officials revamped their policies when Utah passed House Bill 374, “which was meant to root out sensitive materials in public schools, notably books with overtly sexual content.” Davis School District had also pulled this book, and 32 other books. Ironically, they pulled the Bible under the same policy.
My take: This book is artistically beautiful, not just because of the rainbows. I don’t know where the objectors think the overtly sexual content is in this book though. This book doesn’t even depict anyone in the book even touching each other! Oh, my mistake there is one photograph of the real Harvey Milk putting a hand on San Francisco Mayor George Moscone’s shoulder, whom Harvey Milk was assassinated with. And just in case you were wondering, Mayor Moscone was straight and was married to Gina Bondanza for 24 years before he was murdered. While this book does state about Harvey Milk’s and George Moscone’s assassinations, there aren’t any other depictions of violence. Honestly, there’s more violence in the Bible’s Genesis than in this book.
So, what would make people try to ban this book? Apparently, the objectors thought that the main character being identified as gay is overtly sexual content, despite the fact that there isn’t anything sexual happening in the book.
Here are a few links about this book and the challenges or bans.
Hanover mom outraged after gay rights book read to 7-year-old daughter (wric.com)
Southern California school board rejects curriculum that mentions Harvey Milk (nbcnews.com)
Rural Iowa Town of Logan Tears Itself Apart Over Library’s Harvey Milk Book (thedailybeast.com)
The Banned Book Reviewer 
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