VERO BEACH, Florida (PNN) - September 1, 2023 - A pastor in Florida was forcibly removed from a school board meeting when he attempted to read aloud pornographic passages from a book that was available to children.

The man was one of around 30 parents at the Monday meeting at the Indian River County School Board.

Pastor John K. Amanchukwu, Sr. began to read from the book titled 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher, but he only got one sentence in before the board silenced him.

“As if letting him finger me was going to cure all my problems,” the pastor read, prompting one board member to yell into the microphone, “Sir, I’ll stop you there.”

Amanchukwu’s microphone was then cut off and security was called as he attempted to continue to read.

Other parents at the meeting were also cut off when reading from different books, all available to schoolchildren.

However, Governor Ron DeSantis instituted a rule earlier in the year that states parents “shall have the right to read passages from any material that is subject to an objection.”

The rule also decrees that if parents are prevented from doing so then the materials to which they are objecting must be immediately removed and discontinued from use in the school.

Indian River County School Board member Jacqueline Rosario said that she was the only member to vote to remove the books last year and that until the new rule was instituted, other board members ignored laws on pornographic, obscene, or sexually explicit content and continued to make the books available to children in school libraries.

“The difference now is HB 1069 has allowed parents to read explicit books at board meetings; and if they get shut down, then the book is immediately removed. This is a good thing,” Rosario noted.

“It is the litmus test for acceptable age appropriate and standards driven library books. If you can’t read them at a board meeting, then you can’t have them in our schools. All that is needed now is for a passage to be read and the book can be removed immediately,” she continued.

Rosario added, “The superintendent and board members refused to acknowledge the gross content made available to (children) until now. Finally, they don’t have a choice. It’s about time the truth was made known. Explicit, sexually graphic, pornographic, and obscene material does not belong in any school.”