The Cumberland Police Department has found that the Greely High School library is not in violation of Maine state laws against dissemination of obscene matter to minors for providing access to the book “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe, according to an Aug. 22 police report obtained by the Maine Wire.
Multiple complaints were filed with Cumberland Police after a MSAD #51 board meeting was adjourned when a parent of a child in the school district raised concerns with the board over pornographic books in Cumberland’s Greely High School library.
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A member of the MSAD #51 board then called the police on parents speaking peacefully with the district’s superintendent outside of Greely High School following the meeting.
“Gender Queer,” the book referenced by a complainant in the police report, contains graphic depictions of oral sex and strap-on dildos.
A complainant met with Cumberland Police Chief Charles Rumsey on Aug. 10, and showed him the pages of “Gender Queer” which show sexually explicit content.
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“The page [the complainant] showed me was sexually explicit,” Chief Rumsey wrote in his report. “I later (briefly) reviewed the book and noted that the majority of the material is not sexually explicit but deals with the efforts of the character or characters to understand their gender identity.”
Rumsey told the complainant that he would investigate whether or not the book being in the high school library was in violation of criminal law.
During the week of Aug. 14, Rumsey spoke with Assistant Attorney General Andrew Black of the Maine Attorney General’s Office.
“I asked AAG Black if anyone in his office had experience with assessing similar complaints for potential violations of the law. He told me that no one had,” Rumsey wrote.
On Aug. 21, Rumsey spoke with Cumberland County Assistant District Attorney Glenn Barnes, who informed Rumsey that based on his review of the relevant statutes his office “would not be prosecuting any case related to this matter.”
Rumsey then judged that this case did not fit the Maine statute against the dissemination of obscene materials to minors, Title 17 section 2911.
“The definition for ‘obscene matter’ is a three-part definition, requiring that all three parts be satisfied for material to be considered obscene,” Rumsey wrote. “One portion of the definition which I do not believe is satisfied is the requirement that the matter, ‘considered as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest.'”
“The entirety of the book, as previously noted, deals with the efforts of the character or characters to understand their gender identity,” he continued. “‘Prurient,’ as defined by the Oxford Dictionary (accessed online) means ‘having or encouraging an excessive interest in sexual matters.'”
“Although portions of the book are sexual, the totality is not,” Rumsey wrote.
Under Title 17 section 2911, obscenity is adjudicated only after an Attorney General or district attorney files a petition to the Superior Court — whether or not the material is obscene would then be determined in a hearing by a jury.
That process not having been undertaken by the Attorney General’s office or the Cumberland district attorney, Rumsey closed his report on the case.
“In closing, I do not believe that the behavior as alleged by the complainants is in violation of the state law,” the Cumberland Chief of Police concluded.
