{"id":11216,"date":"2025-12-04T07:23:51","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T07:23:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=11216"},"modified":"2025-12-04T07:23:51","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T07:23:51","slug":"where-common-sense-childrens-books-are-censored","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/?p=11216","title":{"rendered":"Where ‘common sense’ children’s books are censored"},"content":{"rendered":"


By Ryan Bomberger<\/span><\/span>, Exclusive Columnist Tuesday, December 02, 2025<\/span>“She is She”<\/span> | She is She<\/span><\/p>\n

Once upon a time, there was common sense. It was plentiful. It took root and flourished in the most expected places, like churches and schools and even news outlets. It was passed down to our children and to our children\u2019s children.<\/p>\n

Until it wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Then came a co-opted rainbow and political movement that cloaked itself in tolerance. But it was never satisfied with mere tolerance. It demanded complete subservience. It required religious devotion. And its (mis)educator evangelists, part of the nation\u2019s largest denomination (also known as Public Schools of America), preached its dogma and silenced dissent.<\/p>\n

Tale as old as time<\/strong><\/p>\n

And this leads us to a tragic story taking place in a land not so far away, in a state called Oregon, in a place called InterMountain Education Service District (IMESD). There, common sense has shriveled and dried up in an education desert where free speech and disfavored ideas face the relentless heat of wokeism. Rod Theis, an employee of IMESD, did the unthinkable. The licensed clinical social worker displayed two illustrated (beautifully diverse) children\u2019s books filled with common sense in one of his offices: She Is She<\/em> and He Is He<\/em>.<\/p>\n

He was interrogated, censored, threatened with termination, and discriminated against for his religious and scientifically proven views on binary gender. He took this LGBT vs. First Amendment case to a district court which mostly ruled against him. So, he\u2019s appealed the unconstitutional decision to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals thanks to the help of Alliance Defending Freedom. Otherwise, he\u2019d have to settle being silenced and having permanent remarks on his employment record wrongfully claiming he violated school policy that doesn\u2019t even exist.<\/p>\n

A good ole book banning<\/strong><\/p>\n

Keep in mind, schools served by IMESD contain books peddling porn and pedophilia, and those are perfectly fine to be displayed and read by children. It\u2019s funny how the folks decrying \u201cbook banning\u201d are the ones who defend sexually explicit books as they demand biologically accurate books be purged. A 2024 bill, sponsored entirely by Democrats, tried to remove all local power from parents and school boards. The legislation (SB1583) made it illegal to remove any<\/em> books pertaining to \u201clesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender.\u201d It was so extreme that even uber-liberal Oregon lawmakers couldn\u2019t get a full vote on it.<\/p>\n

Yet, Oregon educators are doing just that to books that don\u2019t comport with their gender spectrum worldview. IMESD Superintendent, Mark Mulvihill, tried to justify the authoritarian tactic by absurdly claiming that these books \u201cpresent a point of view that not everyone is going to agree with.\u201d So, that\u2019s the supposed standard in Oregon public schools? Everyone<\/em> must agree with everything <\/em>displayed or spoken? Good luck with that. So much for \u201cinclusion and diversity.\u201d Their actions are the most exclusionary, demanding complete and utter conformity or be harassed and hated.<\/p>\n

The next chapter<\/strong><\/p>\n

IMESD\u2019s Assistant Superintendent and HR Director, Aimee VanNice, \u201cinvestigated\u201d Theis. She pulled a man filled with common sense into a room filled with no sense. I had to laugh when I read one of the many inane questions described in the opening brief: \u201cDoes the [B]ible support they\/them?\u201d Theis responded that the Bible supports the simple and biological truths that the books promote: She Is She<\/em> and He Is He<\/em>.<\/em><\/p>\n

VanNice wasn\u2019t about playing nice. She pushed and prodded: \u201cDoes this book [She Is She<\/em>] support a she<\/em> wanting to be a he<\/em>?\u201d Theis responded, simply: \u201cNo.\u201d And therein lies the crux of the issue. When it comes to all things LGBT in Public Schools of America, faculty, staff and students may only express one<\/em> pro-LGBT view: Gender is fluid<\/em>! The gods of wokeness will not allow anything else to be publicly uttered or displayed. To speak of boys and girls as known biological designations is heresy!<\/p>\n

Theis was told, falsely, that while teachers and staff are at work, they \u201care not allowed to express views and opinions on specific subjects.\u201d Never mind that many of the schools\u2019 classrooms and faculty offices are littered with pro-Black Lives Matter, pro-illegal immigration, pro-LGBT symbols, posters and books. Those subjects are just fine if you toe the line.<\/p>\n

I must admit I have a conflict of interest disclaimer:<\/strong> My wife and I are the authors of these adorable books, She Is She<\/em> and He Is He<\/em>, that celebrate biological and biblical binary gender. So, I am completely biased about this attack on common sense. My bias, however, is always toward the truth, something the district court that initially ruled on this case largely ignored.<\/p>\n

Imagine this. An education service district, which serves many school districts in the eastern part of Oregon, is contesting any display of these two books because woke (mis)educators branded them \u201ctransphobic\u201d and a \u201chostile expression of animus\u201d for daring to hold an irrefutable and established binary view of gender. It\u2019s the exact same view<\/em> that is taught in English and Science classes in the same schools served by taxpayer-funded IMESD.<\/p>\n

Is this the end?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Common sense has been bludgeoned for decades by \u201cprogressivism.\u201d The carnage is all around us. Too many parents pretend they don\u2019t see the collateral damage (our confused and depressed children), are duped by the doublespeak, or don\u2019t care. Public schools across the country aren\u2019t touting the First Amendment rights that distinguish America from the rest of the world. They\u2019re slowly erasing them, one idea or fact at a time. Teachers or staff who dare to speak or show reality \u2026 well, they\u2019re in for a world of hurt.<\/p>\n

I know that fighting for common sense can be incredibly painful. It\u2019s worth it. I\u2019m praying for free speech and religious liberty victories at the Ninth Circuit. To all the Rod Theises out there who choose to do what\u2019s right even when you\u2019re the only one standing up for the truth \u2013 generations will benefit from your moral fortitude.<\/p>\n

Courage doesn\u2019t need a crowd. It just needs someone with conviction to give these stories happy and just endings.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

Ryan Bomberger is the Chief Creative Officer and co-founder of The Radiance Foundation. He is happily married to his best friend, Bethany, who is the Executive Director of Radiance. They are adoptive parents with four awesome kiddos. Ryan is an Emmy Award-winning creative professional, factivist, international public speaker and author of NOT EQUAL: CIVIL RIGHTS GONE WRONG. He loves illuminating that every human life has purpose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ryan Bomberger, Exclusive Columnist Tuesday, December 02, 2025“She is She” | She is She Once upon a time, there was common sense. It was plentiful. It took root and flourished in the most expected places, like churches and schools and even news outlets. It was passed down to our children and to our children\u2019s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[2692,2693,890,244,2691],"class_list":{"0":"post-11216","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-christian-living","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-censored","10":"tag-childrens","11":"tag-common","12":"tag-sense"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11216"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11216\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblelon.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}