U.S. House Republicans are targeting “explicit” books in school libraries

WASHINGTON — Republicans and Democrats on the U.S. House Education and Workforce Committee split at a hearing Thursday over whether some books with LGBTQ+ content should be removed from public school libraries.

Democrats criticized the hearing as engaging in culture war themes to attack public education, saying that was the case The tactic led to book bans. Republicans argued that books would not be banned because those removed from public schools could be purchased elsewhere.

“These censorship laws are being passed by extreme MAGA politicians under the guise of parental rights, when in reality they are a coordinated and apparently well-funded, vocal minority of parents and conservative organizations imposing their own personal agenda on others,” the top Democrat said further said the panel, Rep. Suzanne Bonamici of Oregon.

Florida, the home state of the panel’s chairman, Republican Rep. Aaron Bean, has seen more book bans than any other state. Bean encouraged parents to challenge books with “explicit content” at local school board meetings.

During the 2022-23 school year, more than 40% of U.S. book bans occurred in the Sunshine State, with 1,406 book bans. according to a report by PEN Americaa group dedicated to fighting book bans and advocating for the First Amendment.

Bean argued that the books are being removed not because they tell stories about the LGBTQ+ community, but because “it is explicit content.”

“Inappropriate books are in school libraries and local communities have the right to remove them,” he said.

Bean added that books are not banned because they can be purchased on Amazon.

“If you can order a book on Amazon and have it delivered to your house the next day, it’s not banned,” Bean said. “In fact, the most removed books on Amazon are still very popular.”

In recent years there has been one unprecedented wave of book bans and the censorship spurred by parents and right-wing groups to target books that focus on the LGBTQ+ community, Black history, and diverse stories.

Many of the book bans It began in the early days of the pandemic in 2020 and was part of the frustration over mask requirements and online learning that eventually led to the politicization of school board meetings.

One of the witnesses called by Democrats was Jonathan Friedman, the director of free expression and education programs at PEN America.

Friedman said that PEN America “has been conducting research into book bans on and off for about 100 years as these issues have flared up.”

“I can tell you there was nothing like this locally three or four years ago,” he said. “Something has changed. A movement to encourage people to try and censor information and ideas.”

One of the groups that existed Opening local chapters across the US and lobbying school boards to ban certain books is Moms for Liberty.

One of the Republican witnesses, Lindsey Smith, is chairwoman of the Montgomery County, Maryland, chapter of Moms for Liberty.

“This is about the innocence and protecting our children,” she said.

Two of the books Republicans focused on were “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson and “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe.

Republican Rep. Burgess Owens of Utah criticized “All Boys Aren’t Blue” because it contained incest. The book, a newborn adult nonfiction memoir collection of essays about Johnson’s life as a queer black man in New Jersey and Virginia, includes a section in which the author discusses how a family member sexually abused him as a child.

The other book, “Gender Queer: A Memoir,” a newborn adult comic by Kobabe about Kobabe’s journey to gender identity as non-binary and queer. Republicans argued that the book was inappropriate because it described oral sex.