Man who wants to ban LGBTQ books from schools has been charged with abusing children

A Missouri man who wanted to ban LGBTQ books from North Kansas City Schools school libraries over sexual images and situations was charged with molesting a child, court documents show. 

Ryan Utterback, a 29-year-old parent, allegedly fondled a child and was charged with that a felony for crime as well, alongside a misdemeanor charge of fourth-degree domestic assault, according to court documents.

The Kansas City resident is also facing misdemeanor charges of furnishing or attempting to furnish pornographic material to a minor in separate case.

Utterback is accused of two instances of child molestation in 2020, allegedly touching a 12-year-old girl under her clothes in one case, and rubbing another teen’s leg underneath her jeans in another case. 

He had been advocating for the removal of several LGBTQ books that featured sexual situations or imagery, while citing the issue of parental rights in choosing what his children are exposed to. 

‘I definitely understand their struggles, and it’s not lost on me,’ he told KMBC in November prior to his arrest this month.

‘But again, those conversations are to be had at home, and only I have the intimate understanding of what is and isn’t appropriate for my children.’

Utterback, pictured, interviewed regarding his advocacy to ban books in North Kansas City school libraries that depicted sexual acts, was recently charged with child molestation 

Utterback pictured entering a North Kansas City school board meeting prior to his arrest on felony charges of child molestation

Utterback, pictured with mask on, speaks at a school board meeting over book ban in his child’s school district

Last year, he reportedly began showing pornography to a young girl from when she was around the age of 4 years old. 

Before the arrest, Utterback had previously appeared at an October 26, 2021 school board meeting for the removal of books that depicted sexual acts in North Kansas City Schools libraries.  

At that meeting, Utterback presented large prints of pages from two books he particularly wanted banned. 

The books in question were graphic novel ‘Fun Home’ by cartoonist Alison Bechdel, and George M Johnson’s ‘All Boys Aren’t Blue,’ both of which explore gender and sexuality for teens and young people. 

Another member of a parent association similarly fighting for the ban then likened the material to solicitation of a minor.  

It remained unclear how many children Utterback has, and whether or not he is married, however he had identified and described himself as a parent at the school board meetings. 

Pictured: North Kansas City Schools, where Utterback had been advocating to ban LGBTQ books that featured sexual imagery or situations

A North Kansas City school board committee meeting, where Utterback and others showed several times to protest such books in the school’s libraries

Utterback appeared again at a meeting for the same reason in November, as first reported by local news station KMBC-TV. 

WMBF News reports that LGBTQ-inclusive books have been frequent targets of banned-book lists at schools throughout the country.

Half of the 20 most banned books of the decade had some form of LGBTQ verbiage in their titles spanning 2010-19, according to the American Library Association. 

Meanwhile in November, the director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom Deborah Caldwell-Stone described a ‘chilling’ uptick in the previous year in an interview with NBC News.  

Mary O’Hara, rapid response manager at the LGBTQ media advocacy group GLAAD, told WMBF that banned and challenged books are evaluated for their educational and literary worth, with some of these books occasionally returning to school library shelves. 

‘Book ban advocates have long tried to inaccurately claim that LGBTQ representation in books, films, TV and ads is “unsuitable” or “obscene,” while other media with narratives and themes about opposite-sex relationships — even those with graphic sex or violence — are not targeted,’ O’Hara told the network. 

Opponents of such material like Utterback have cited parental rights in having a say in what their children read in school, with O’Hara adding that the majority of recently targeted books revolve around LGBTQ and race-related storylines and issues. 

‘LGBTQ people and Black people are parents, too, and get a say in their children’s education,’ they said, adding that schools should ‘ensure books are available to all children to learn about themselves and people different from themselves,’ she said.

Meanwhile, Utterback is next due to appear in court on March 10.