Salutations!

This is Tyger Songbird back, with another episode of The Tyger Songbird Sonata podcast. I am so glad to be back here. I know I’ve been absent for a while. I had taken a bit of time off. I was recently laid off from teaching, and I’m dealing with the unemployment line right now. It took a bit of a toll on me to deal with that. I’ve also been working on some stuff with my Jeopardy content, so there’s that as well. I decided to hop on here and share with you some future plans of mine, including starting my new series, titled Top 10 Signs I Knew I’m Asexual. I wanted to share with you that information, as well as my video on the moment I knew I am asexual.

I hope this episode is okay, and I hope you like it. I plan to be doing more of them soon.

If you wish, you can support me by leaving a comment down below, or you can even support me through my Kofi. I really could use the financial support, because I’ve been out of work, as I mentioned. I hope you enjoy!

https://ko-fi.com/tygersongbird

This is Tyger Songbird, saying to stay fierce and to stay fly!

—Songbird ♠️🏹💜🂡

My Asexual Joy Story Article on Medium

Today, I will be on . It's a dream come true. I am so grateful for the opportunity to compete on the Alex Trebek stage and to meet Ken Jennings. I'm so grateful to the team at Jeopardy (Ellie, John, Brigit, Sara, Jimmy, and so many more I can't list on this post). I'm just over the moon.

If you're in the Tulsa or Broken Arrow area, come see me at Tobie's Pizzeria. We are having a watch party at 4:00 today. I'd love to meet you.

—Songbird

Today is my mom's 64th birthday. My mom told me she wanted two things from me before passing away: to see me be on the and to see the ocean.

This year, we accomplished both goals. Notice I said we.

Our family has been through so many challenges the past few years.

My dad almost lost his life due to a botched hernia surgery. Thankfully, he is still alive and with us.

My dad lost his job after 41 years of employment. He almost qualified for retirement.

My dad then broke his hip and was in the hospital for two weeks.

My dad just a few weeks ago had a seizure while sleeping and went unresponsive. Again, he made it, but his body is still recovering.

Then, I found out I was not renewed at my last job. So, as of now, I'm currently unemployed. It's a bit of a struggle.

However, the one person who has always held us together is my mom.

My mom is a true hero. She ever since I was a kid watched every game show with me, helping me train and prepare for my goal of wanting to be on Jeopardy! someday. When I was ill as a child, she would drop everything she was doing and sit there to watch Jeopardy! with me, playing alongside me. Without my mom, this doesn't happen.

I think the greatest thing about being able to be on @jeopardy was seeing my mom be proud of me and proving her belief in me right.

My mom always encouraged me, telling me I am smart enough to do anything I put my mind to. I'm so glad I got to prove her right.

I have always dreamed of having my name called on Jeopardy and being on the Jeopardy stage to meet Ken Jennings. Ken helped inspire me to get more into Jeopardy, to do academic bowl in high school, to continue writing and making trivia as an adult. I thank you, Ken, sincerely, for helping me become the lifelong learner I am now.

Now, I can proudly say that I am going to be on Jeopardy come June 18, 2026. Tune in.

This guy from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma is going to be on Jeopardy. I can't believe it's real.

Thank you to everyone on the team. Ellie, John, Bridgit, Niki, Sarah, John, Sandy, Renee, for getting us all ready to play. Thank you for helping make my dream come true.

Signed,

Tyler Stevenson, aka Tyger Songbird

This episode is designed to help anyone who may be questioning if they’re asexual or if they know someone who may be asexual.

I’m an asexual activist, writer, and aspiring podcaster. I’m also a professional trivia player and writer. I’ve been out as an asexual for approaching 10 years, and I wanted to write this series describing my personal journey into discovering my asexuality.

This 10 episode series will discuss my Top 10 Signs I knew I’m Asexual. Some of these you may find relatable and resonate with. Some of these you may not. That’s okay, too. I’m just sharing my personal experiences in this series. Hope you enjoy.

—Songbird

Episode 1: Sex feels more like a nightmare than a dream.

How many people here would be okay with staying a virgin for life? Or just going without having sex ever again?

I can’t be the only one, can I?

I was turned on to a show on TLC, titled Virgins. Obviously, it’s a TV show about adult virgins. I watched it, and the entire show is repugnant.

The whole gist of the show is apparently to follow 4 adult virgins and mock them for never having had sex. They basically chose 4 stereotypical adult virgin tropes and decided to portray them in the most unflattering light.

One guy is made fun of by his own family for still being a 34-year-old virgin who lives with his parents.

His sisters constantly poke at him and harass him. He was bullied in school. There was a story where a girl pranked him, telling him to meet her at a spot in school, only for her to bring her boyfriend and all her friends to laugh and mock him for falling for the prank. Just cruel. So, he has some esteem issues from all of that bullying as a child.

I can sympathize with him because I’m also a 35 year-old virgin who lives with his parents. If I didn’t, I would be homeless, since I can’t afford to live independently on my personal salary. I hate making fun of people for living with your parents. In today’s economy, how else can you expect to find housing?

Another is a 35 year-old virgin who is always being coaxed by her friends…

She just doesn’t like anyone she meets and is told she is “too picky.” She’s supposedly conventionally attractive to most people, and she gets approached by others interested in dating her. But she just isn’t interested. Her friends keep cajoling her into trying dating even though she doesn’t like anyone she dates.

She ends up going on some blind dating show, where the hosts constantly make fun of her for being a virgin. It was among the most mean-spirited moments I’ve ever watched on a show. There’s an audience there that is in total shock because she hasn’t lost her V-card and hasn’t been in a relationship. A couple audience members are mouth agape when she mentions she’s a 35 year-old virgin, and the hosts are asking these invasive questions, trying to persuade her into trying sex. The whole show seems so prickish, honestly.

The next virgin is a 37 year-old Indian-American woman who remained a virgin because of her religious upbringing.

The show constantly harps on her being an uptight prude who just needs to “loosen up” and “live a little”. She talks about how she’s demisexual, but it seems like everyone is constantly trying to force her to do things she doesn’t want to do. I’m not even sure she even wants to have sex for the sake of having it. She seems to want sex because she feels like it’s the only way to have a romantic relationship, which she wants. It’s just so cruel.

She mentions that she falls in love after one kiss, and that’s why she doesn’t want to kiss just anybody. The world makes her sound like a hopeless romantic because of it. She has a lot of romantic feelings, and personally, I think she really isn’t wanting to have sex, but rather sees it as the only way to find romance.

The last one is a 42 year-old woman who is just horny all the time.

She’s always talking about wanting to do BDSM, since she sees it in porn. She is just very sexually charged all the time. She was married, but she never had sex with her ex-husband, because he only married her for citizenship status and then ditched her, pretty much. She has esteem issues from that failed marriage, and from the fact she doesn’t feel she fits societal beauty standards. So, there is just a lot there with that.

The show constantly makes it seem that being an adult virgin is like being an alien. It’s always seen as like “We need to devirginize these people”, so they can become “normal” like the rest of us.

One friend said we just need to get her to have sex, so she can join “the rest of the world”.

The way they treat these virgins is infuriating as hell, honestly.

This show just sucks, for real.

This show doesn’t reflect my experience as an asexual man — an asexual male virgin at that!

I’m a 35 year-old virgin. I’ve never been in a relationship, never been on a date, and I have no desire to change any of that.

I’ve never even been on deck, let alone made it to any of the proverbial bases.

I prefer to keep it that way.

Additionally to being asexual, I’m sex-repulsed. Sex just is off-putting for me. I’d rather pretty much do anything besides having sex. My ideal night would be to play trivial pursuit or any board game.

I’m happy to be a 35-year-old virgin. I’m happy because I am living life on my own terms, not on anyone else’s timeline.

I grew up in a town where the expectation was that you become some wild teenage boy that gets drunk and loses his virginity at some party, then goes to college and live as some frat boy, and then settles down by getting married and having kids by age 22.

I wanted none of those things.

As an aromantic asexual teetotaler, I’m proud to say today that I have never drank alcohol, I’ve never smoked, I’ve never had sex.

Shoot! I’ve never even drank coffee.

Those things just don’t appeal to me.

Yet, all the while, I’ve had to deal with peer pressure to have sex all my life, pretty much.

In my town squarely centered in the heart of the Bible Belt, people find it more understandable to be divorced by the time you’re 35 than to be a 35-year-old virgin.

I find that ironic, considering Jesus supposedly died a virgin, and the Apostle Paul said being celibate was the best option.

People always try to tell me that I need to “live a little”, “experiment”, and “just try sex, because I may like it”.

Few people I’ve met have respected my autonomy and my personhood, with regard to not wanting to have sex at all. I’m always told that I’m “repressed”, “unliberated”, and not “living life to the fullest”.

They don’t care when I tell them I’m aromantic asexual. Matter of fact, many refuse to believe it, since “no man doesn’t want sex”, according to the stereotype.

I have been shamed for being a virgin, even as I’m asexual.

What makes it worse is that the worst amount of shame oftentimes comes from people who call themselves sex-positive.

Society always talks about being sex-positive when it comes to having as much sex as one wants, but when a person like me wants to have no sex of any kind, they dismiss and ridicule me.

On countless occasions, I’ve been told I’m an uptight “prude” who hasn’t “become a man”, like Peter Pan.

On countless occasions, I’ve been told that I just “need to get laid”, in order to become a “real man”.

On countless occasions, I’ve been told that I’m just a little kid, and that I haven’t “matured”, since I’m not married and not having sex.

My eyes start rolling whenever I hear that.

Society always loves to say “my body, my choice” when it comes to respecting people having sex, but they never seem to reciprocate that respect towards people like me who don’t want to have sex.

Society has gotten much more progressive in terms of calling out slut-shaming when it occurs as a bad thing.

However, when it comes to virgin-shaming, there isn’t enough condemnation for it.

In olden times, we used to have an entire profession for people who desired to remain sex-free, asexual or no. It was called the priesthood or nunnery. People used to respect a priest or nun for “foregoing the way of sex and marriage”.

Today, we parade their lives on screen, in the most cruel form of virgin-shaming. Today, we depict virgins in a manner that makes them look like geeks and losers.

TLC’s Virgins as a show fails to recognize that everyone has a unique story and journey. They don’t recognize and esteem the journeys of virgins; they only shame their experiences.

TLC’s Virgins doesn’t respect the multitude of reasons why someone would remain a virgin into adulthood, including mine being a sex-repulsed asexual.

TLC’s Virgins shows no respect for the personhood of adult virgins, including me as a 35-year-old aromantic asexual.

TLC’s Virgins as a show only exists for one thing: virgin-shaming.

TLC’s Virgins is the personification of virgin-shaming. TLC’s Virgins makes being an adult virgin seem like being an extraterrestrial oddity.

Why do they always show virgins as complete losers and weirdos all the time? Why must television and media always treat people who don’t have sex as being losers and pity cases?

They never seem to show people who are happy to remain virgins and aren’t interested in sex. They never seem to show someone like me, an aromantic asexual guy who has no interest in having sex of any kind.

They always pick these sad sack, pity cases that they can portray as being “losers” and conventionally “uncool”. TV is constantly stereotyping virgins as being uncool losers who deserve to be laughed at.

Honestly, it makes me mad. Maybe it’s because I’m a 35-year-old virgin myself, so I can relate to the shame.

1. I have had 10 surgeries in my life.

2. I sing bass 2 in the choir

3. I was an all-city trivia player in high school

4. I am asexual, and I've never had sex. Truth!

5. I don't drink or smoke. I don't even drink coffee!

6. I should also say I've never drunk or smoked, either. I've never been into it.

7. I don’t drink coffee. Same reason, just not into it.

On October 15, 2024, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly signed a proclamation recognizing the last full week of October as Asexual Awareness Week, making Kansas the sixth state to officially recognize Ace Week. Joining Colorado, Michigan, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington, the state of Kansas signed a proclamation signifying the need for greater awareness, acceptance, and legal protections for asexual people.

Started in 2010, Ace Week was created by Sara Beth Brooks as a means of spreading awareness of issues regarding the asexual community. Aiming to gain the attention of major organizations, such as the UN Human Rights Council, Brooks enlisted the help of David Jay, the founder of the Asexuality Visibility and Education Network (AVEN), to help grow Ace Week into what’s now a global phenomenon.

The first Ace Week was conducted through online web chats and blog posts. Today, Ace Week has been officially recognized in multiple nations and six U.S. states, with Kansas joining the list.

The Ace Couple, a married asexual couple who runs a podcast discussing topics related to asexuality, shared the declaration from Governor Kelly to their page on X. Courtney & Royce, the duo behind the Ace Couple podcast, reside in Kansas and have advocated for years for the recognition of Ace Week in the Sunflower State. Now, Kansas has joined the small but growing list of U.S. states that recognize Asexual Awareness Week since 2019.

Join Tyger Songbird's Sonata today!

Leave a comment

—Songbird ♠️💜🏹🂡

In case you didn’t know, this week is Ace Week. The last full week in October is Ace Week, my favorite week of the calendar. During this week, I will talk about some topics related to asexuality and share my experiences being an asexual person. So, prepare for a bevvy of posts to come from me.

I wrote this post originally on Twitter, and I found it again, because I think it still rings true today. I am transferring this post now, because I want to get some of my old post to my substack.

People say that asexual people don't face discrimination (and thus don't belong in the LGBTQ+ community). Here's a reply for that: A 2012 study of bias among college students, for example, found that asexuals were “viewed as less human, and less valued as contact partners..."

https://www.thedailybeast.com/theres-nothing-wrong-with-being-asexual/

The dehumanization of aces due to not experiencing sexual attraction and/or having no interest in sex leads to damaging stereotypes, erasure, and misrepresentation in media, literature, & society.

Aces are stereotyped as being robotic, cold, & indifferent aliens, due to not experiencing sexual interest. Case in point: Sherlock Holmes, Dexter, Sheldon. We aces are thought to be somehow "broken" or "dysfunctional" because we simply lack an attraction or interest in sex.

Steven Moffat, the writer for Sherlock's BBC show, stated in no uncertain terms that Benedict Cumberbatch's Sherlock couldn't be asexual because if he were, there would be "no tension in that, no fun in that."

This dehumanization of aces leads to many harmful and toxic ideas about aces, as well as people thinking we need "fixing".

CW: The idea that aces need to be "fixed" or "corrected" is another one. Case in point: House MD The trope that a person not being interested in sex being "defective" has led to many aces being the victims of "corrective rape" and conversion therapy (torture).

In the 2015 asexual community census, a volunteer-run project, 43.5% of nearly 8,000 aces surveyed reported having experienced some form of sexual violence (including rape, assault, and coercion).

I went through this exact experience when I was 17. I had someone when she found out I was a virgin (and still am) try to pressure me into having sex with her, touching me inappropriately. She when I told her to stop said that she was "trying to help me". I didn't want help.

These negative ideas about aces can be found in consummation laws, where a marriage can be voided because the couple didn't have sex, placing the asexual spouse at fault.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/8741895/Frenchman-ordered-to-pay-wife-damages-for-lack-of-sex.html

The National LGBT Survey 2018 found that 7% of LGBT+ people have been offered or undergone conversion therapy. Asexual people were also at a higher risk of being offered or undergoing conversion therapy (10%).

https://www.stonewall.org.uk/news/netflix-e2-80-99s-pray-away-shows-us-horrors-religious-conversion-practices-here-e2-80-99s-why-we-need

All of this fits under the category of compulsory sexuality. Here is a great paper on that.

https://t.co/LFTxGJ5U6Y

@DavidJBradley1

My friend, David J. Bradley, did a great episode on the House episode, breaking down why House's episode on asexuality was problematic and how it leads to things like corrective rape & conversion therapy.

Coming out as ace can also be a difficult experience. A study on 169 asexual people published in April 2016 by Yale University found that many encountered dismissal and skepticism on coming out.

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/asexuality-own-unique-sexual-orientation

When I came out as ace, my family didn't even believe me. My mother said I was just being particular and not willing to "give anyone a chance". I also got the all-too-common patronization of "You just haven't met the right person yet."

People act like they know aces better than we know ourselves. That kind of patronization leads to aces being infantilized, as if we aren't truly mature unless we had sex. This was seen in Sheldon in the Big Bang Theory being portrayed as a child until he met Amy.

This is called amatonormativity.

Youtuber Tara Mooknee has a great Youtube video breaking down the harms of amatonormativity.

Dr. Elizabeth Brake described amatonormativity to describe the widespread assumption that everyone is better off in an exclusive, romantic, long-term coupled relationship, and that everyone is seeking such a relationship. To the exclusion of singles.

https://elizabethbrake.com/amatonormativity/

This hits polyamorous people and aro/ace people in the biggest way. Think of all the terms used to describe a single adult, regardless of gender: "Spinster", "Old Maid", "Confirmed Bachelor", "In the Closet", just to name a few.

The negative assumptions permeated with amatonormativity lead to real-life discriminations. There has been some research that indicates heterosexual persons are intentionally biased against asexual persons and would likely avoid them and discriminate against them in housing and jobs, sometimes even preferring other sexual minorities over asexual people (MacInnis & Hodson, 2012)

https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1050&context=jj_etds

I think that all counts as discrimination, wouldn't you say?

• Being viewed as not really human,

• Less likely to be hired,

• Less likely to be accepted for housing,

• Conversion therapy,

• "Corrective" rape,

• Less likely to be accepted when coming out Looks like discrimination to me.

This evidence should be proof to everyone that aces are discriminated against, and there are significantly harmful attitudes against us aces that need to be debunked and dismantled.

I will never say that aces have it the hardest or that we as aces go through more than any other identity in the LGBTQ+ community. I am just saying that we as aces do go through quite a lot. All we ask is our experiences be not downplayed. That's all we aces are asking for.

All we aces are asking for is your love. We want friendship, we want community, and we want the cake as well (Yum!).

In seriousness, all we want deep down is to be just be accepted as we are, not as some defect that needs "correcting". That is all.

—Songbird ♠️💜🏹🂡

It’s Tyger Songbird, and I’m back with another installment of The Songbird’s Seven, my daily quiz of 7 questions to test your trivia skills and expertise.

I have figured out a way to make a leaderboard, a way to keep track of scores. I would like to by May start a Tyger Trivia League to keep tabs on things. To do that, I will need you to help me by becoming a paid subscriber. My rate is only $5 a month. It’s as cheap as a cup of coffee. By becoming a paid member, you will receive all my premium content as it premieres, as a member of Team Tyger. I will work on a name for that.

So, if you can, please join by becoming a paid member today.

Join Team Tyger Today!

Read more

Salutations!

It’s Tyger Songbird, and I’m back with another installment of The Songbird’s Seven, my daily quiz of 7 questions to test your trivia skills and expertise.

I have figured out a way to make a leaderboard, a way to keep track of scores. I would like to by May start a Tyger Trivia League to keep tabs on things. To do that, I will need you to help me by becoming a paid subscriber. My rate is only $5 a month. It’s as cheap as a cup of coffee. By becoming a paid member, you will receive all my premium content as it premieres, as a member of Team Tyger. I will work on a name for that.

So, if you can, please join by becoming a paid member today.

Join Team Tyger Today!

Anyway, here is The Songbird’s Seven. Tell me what you think with a comment.

Stay Fierce, Stay Fly

—Songbird 💜♠️🏹🂡

Hi, everyone! It’s Tyger Songbird, and I’m back with another installment of The Songbird’s Seven, my daily quiz of 7 questions to test your trivia skills and expertise.

I’m so thankful for the positive response to my inaugural response, and I really want to make this a daily quiz. So, I am back with another one, and I think it’s going to be a blast.

The Songbird’s Seven is linked below.

The Songbird’s Seven #2

Tell everyone you know about The Songbird Seven, and let me know what you think in the comments.

—Songbird 💜♠️🏹🂡

I am starting something new on my profile. It’s Tyger Songbird’s Sonata. It’s a daily quiz of 7 questions to test your trivia skills and expertise. As a trivia writer whose dream it is to start his own trivia company, I am going to start my own daily quiz for everyone to enjoy. I hope that this is something everyone finds amazing.

You can play my quiz. It’s linked below.

The Songbird's Seven #1

Tell me what you think. On a scale of 1-10, tell me how much you like it?

On December 14, 2023, Delaware state Rep. Eric Morrison (D) along with Sen. Sarah McBride (D) and Sen. Marie Pinkney (D) introduced bill HB 275—a bill that would add pansexuality and asexuality to Delaware's anti-discrimination code to prevent discrimination predominantly to avoid discrimination in housing, employment, and insurance.

HB 275 states in its text that if passed it would be a penalty to unfairly base insurance policies and premiums based on a host of factors including sexual orientation. It would also update the sexual orientation portion of the state anti-discrimination code to include pansexuality and asexuality.

Line 22 of the bill states this with regards to anti-discrimination.

It is an unlawful practice for any insurance company licensed to do business in this State to discriminate in any way because of the insured’s race, color, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin, or to make, publish, disseminate, circulate, or place before the public, or cause, directly or indirectly, to be made, published, disseminated, circulated, or placed before the public, in a newspaper, magazine, or other publication, or in the form of a notice, circular, pamphlet, letter, or poster, or over any radio or television station, or in any other way, to include the writing of any policy or the application therefor, an advertisement, announcement, or statement containing any assertion, representation, or statement with respect to the business of insurance or with respect to any person in the conduct of the insurance business, which discriminates in any way because of the insured’s race, color, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin or to classify or refer to any individual on the basis of race, color, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin.

The Delaware Code currently defines sexual orientation as either heterosexuality, homosexuality or bisexuality.  

If the bill passes, it will amend this language to include asexuality and pansexuality under the Delaware Code’s definition of sexual orientation, encompassing more identities and making the term “sexual orientation” more inclusive, something that Rep. Morrison states is quite important now.

According to an interview done with the Delaware News Journal, Morrison said that after coming to know pansexual and asexual individuals who say they often feel excluded in conversations about LGBTQ+ rights and issues, he created and introduced HB275 with his desire to ensure folks who identify as pansexual or asexual cannot be discriminated against in situations such as housing or employment applications due to their sexual orientation.

Speaking an asexual person myself, this bill is such a great measure that highlights a plight asexual people go through but hardly gets covered by media and news outlets.

People love to say that asexual people don't face discrimination (and thus don't belong in the LGBTQ+ community). However, when it comes to discrimination, asexual people face intense levels of discrimination. The only difference is that discrimination against asexual people just don’t receive any media recognition.

A 2012 study of bias among college students, for example, found that asexuals were “viewed as less human, and less valued as contact partners..."

The National LGBT Survey 2018 found that 7% of LGBT+ people have been offered or undergone conversion therapy. Asexual people were also at a higher risk of being offered or undergoing conversion therapy (10%).

In the 2015 asexual community census, a volunteer-run project, 43.5% of nearly 8,000 aces surveyed reported having experienced some form of sexual violence (including rape, assault, and coercion).

I went through this exact experience when I was 17. I had someone when she found out I was a virgin (and still am) try to pressure me into having sex with her, touching me inappropriately. She when I told her to stop said that she was "trying to help me".

With regards to asexual people, there has been some research that indicates heterosexual persons are intentionally biased against asexual persons and would likely avoid them and discriminate against them in housing and jobs, sometimes even preferring other sexual minorities over asexual people (MacInnis & Hodson, 2012)

Protections against asexual people are hardly ever considered as something necessary, despite the overwhelming evidence that says asexual people do face discrimination. Delaware taking the mantle as the first to extend protections towards pansexual and asexual people is something that hopefully gains steam in 2024.

—Songbird 💜♠️🏹🂡

After losing overwhelmingly in school board elections during the 2023 election cycle, Moms for Liberty is continuing in its book-banning crusade—with its eyes set on a new target: Scholastic Book Fairs.

The Oklahoma chapter of Moms for Liberty is calling for the state to ban all Scholastic Book Fairs, claiming Scholastic Book Fairs impose “radical viewpoints and sexual ideologies”.

Moms for Liberty is now calling on state superintendent Ryan Walters to investigate and shut down Scholastic Book Fair in the state of Oklahoma, a school tradition that has been taking place since 1981.

Moms for Liberty is pointing at two books as examples of books with “radical viewpoints”: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas and Heartstopper by Alice Oseman.

Moms for Liberty wants The Hate U Give banned for having racism and profanity.

Moms for Liberty says Heartstopper is inappropriate for schools due to having make out sessions, sexual activity, gender ideology, violence, and profanity.

The Hate U Give, which derives its name from the Tupac acronym THUG LIFE (The Hate U Give Little Infants F**** Everybody), tells the story of a young teenager named Starr Carter in the aftermath of witnessing the police shoot her friend Khalil. It debuted at number one on the New York Times Bestsellers list and won the Edgar Allan Poe award for best Young Adult Novel in 2018.

Heartstopper is the award-winning graphic novel series by Alice Oseman that follows the centers around the relationship between two high school boys from the United Kingdom named Charlie Spring and Nick Nelson. Charlie struggles with an eating disorder after being outed by a fellow peer and being bullied for being gay. Nick is a rugby player who struggles to come out as bisexual out of fear of being bullied by peers and rejected by his family.

Moms for Liberty is now asking state superintendent Ryan Walters to ban Scholastic Book Fair from the state of Oklahoma and for a new vendor to be found.

This is what Moms for Liberty said in a statement:

"We condemn the current nature of the business that Scholastic is exhibiting and look forward to alternative publishers and book fair companies embracing materials dedicated to building academia, character, and morality of our youth while respecting the values and traditions of parents.”

State Superintendent Ryan Walters stated in a press release that they are investigating, as “Superintendent Walters is always concerned and vigilant about eliminating woke indoctrination in the classroom.”

Scholastic in a statement said that they are "committed above all to supporting every child’s journey to learn to read and love to read, in partnership with schools and families."

Though Moms for Liberty claims to be in favor of “parents’ rights”, it is important to highlight that the majority of the U.S. electorate does not stand in favor of Moms for Liberty’s book banning quest. Multiple polls have found that book banning is an idea that Americans universally reject. A 2022 poll by Every Library Institute found that some 75% of voters said “preventing book banning” was important to them when voting, with 43% saying it was “very important.” A 2023 NPR/IPSOS poll found that the majority of people across the political spectrum oppose book bans, with even 52% of Republicans standing against book bans.