Proud Boys join effort to ban book in Downers Grove

  • The protesters at a Downers Grove school board meeting on Nov. 15 included Proud Boys associate Brian Kraemer (at right, in plaid shirt and holding sign).

    The protesters at a Downers Grove school board meeting on Nov. 15 included Proud Boys associate Brian Kraemer (at right, in plaid shirt and holding sign). Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

  • Brian Kraemer

    Brian Kraemer

  • Edgar "Remy Del Toro" Delatorre

    Edgar "Remy Del Toro" Delatorre

 
 
Updated 11/22/2021 7:31 PM

When a group of conservative Downers Grove parents organized this year to oppose mask mandates and equity initiatives at schools, it led to some tense school board meetings.

Yet students at Downers North and Downers South high schools said they didn't see a big impact on their lives until the parents sought to remove a graphic novel by a nonbinary author from the school libraries over concerns it included a few sexually explicit illustrations -- a fight that caught the attention of the Proud Boys, a far-right gang that has recently seized on the culture wars playing out at school districts around the country.

 

A Proud Boys contingent ultimately showed up for a board meeting in Downers Grove last Monday where the book was discussed, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.

• For the full story, visit chicago.suntimes.com.

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