On Thursday, the House Committee on Education & the Workforce held a hearing focused on children being exposed to graphic, sexually explicit content in school libraries.
“Before getting started, I would like to make a disclaimer that we are going to be handling some very sensitive, mature issues today. We will be discussing wildly inappropriate books that are accessible in school libraries,” Florida GOP Rep. Aaron Bean warned when the hearing began.
During the hearing, called “Protecting Kids: Combating Graphic, Explicit Content in School Libraries,” several witnesses shared their experiences of kids being exposed to graphic, sexually explicit reading materials at school. This included books like “Gender Queer,” which, as Townhall has covered, highlights the author’s journey to discover their sexual orientation and gender identity. The author, Maia Kobe, uses “e/em/eir” pronouns. And, the publisher’s website noted that the book “started as a way to explain to eir family what it means to be nonbinary and asexual.”
“It’s common sense that children should not have access to pornography while at school. When did protecting our children become so controversial?” Megan Degenfelder, the superintendent of the Wyoming Department of Education, stated at the hearing.
Other books mentioned in the hearing include “This Book is Gay,” “Out of Darkness,” “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” among several others. These books contain content like underage incest, oral sex, and a “how to” guide to meeting strangers on sex apps.
While the Biden admin is taking a heavy-handed approach w/ its "book banning czar", @RepBurgessOwens highlights the importance of empowering parents to have conversations at the local level and create policies that impact the kind of books available for kids at school. pic.twitter.com/cCY8I6Fj3S
— House Committee on Education & the Workforce (@EdWorkforceCmte) October 19, 2023
During the hearing, Democratic Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (OR) stated that “this is the U.S. Congress and not a school board meeting,” and claimed that these “draconian” policies “banning” explicit books for children are “being enacted by extreme MAGA politicians under the pretext of parental rights.” She added that these rules aimed at protecting children “undermine our public education system” and are aimed to “try to justify” defunding public schools to direct funds toward school choice.
“We need to continue this conversation, but we also need to get back to doing what’s best for children,” she said when the hearing concluded. “Let’s talk about the schools where they don’t even have a library.”
On X, formerly known as Twitter, Bonamici said that Republicans are pushing “censorship” bans on books with characters that are LGBTQ+ or people of color.
What books should be in schools is a decision for educators, librarians, and school boards; not the federal government. Censorship and book bans have no place in public education.
— Suzanne Bonamici (@RepBonamici) October 19, 2023
One witness, Lindsey Smith, a chapter chair with Moms for Liberty, pushed back against the narrative that parents and Republicans endorse “book banning.”
“I would like to address the lie that parental groups and Moms for Liberty are ‘book banning,’” Smith stated. “If removing a sexual explicit book from school libraries is what you see as book banning, then you need to reevaluate your language.”