Governors Demand Investigations into Pornography in School Libraries
As parents around the country are rising up to challenge the social and sexual indoctrination of their children in public schools through the use of explicit sexual content, we’re getting a better handle on what is turning out to be a national problem. From Virginia to Ohio, from Texas to California, and from Colorado to Washington state, parents are standing up and objecting to the alarming prevalence of porn in their schools, much of it disguised as “sex ed” and provided by organizations like Planned Parenthood.
While objectionable material is found in classroom curriculums, much of it also shows up in school libraries as “approved” books and resources, and two state governors are calling for investigations by their departments of education as well as law enforcement into how pornography and other obscene materials can show up on library shelves.
In South Carolina, Gov. Henry McMaster formally requested that his Superintendent of Education, Molly Spearman, conduct a “comprehensive investigation” into the problem, brought to his attention by parents in Fort Mill, South Carolina.
“By way of example, it is my understanding that concerned parents were recently required to petition the Fort Mill School District to remove a book from a school’s physical or digital library, titled Gender Queer: A Memoir, by Maia Kobabe,” McMaster wrote. “If school personnel had performed even a cursory review in this particular instance, it would have revealed that the book contains sexually explicit and pornographic depictions, which easily meet or exceed the statutory definition of obscenity. Thus, I am concerned that further examination may identify additional instances in which inappropriate materials have been introduced into our State’s public schools.”
Gender Queer, you might remember from The Daily Citizen’s reporting from Fairfax County, Virginia, made one mom, Stacy Langton, famous for reading excerpts of it – along with another book, Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison – to her local board of education. They contain explicit illustrations of oral sex, masturbation, and graphic descriptions of sex between men and children. Although the books were taken out of the library, she got herself banned from the school library in the process.
McMaster also called upon the state Department of Education to come up with statewide standards and directives to prevent pornography and other obscene content from entering the state’s public schools and libraries. He ended his missive to Spearman by including the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division in his request, asking officials there to further evaluate whether any criminal laws were broken.
In Texas, similar problems in the Leander Independent School District (LISD) near Austin have already been the subject of an expose’ by The Daily Wire earlier this year. The expose’ documented teachers being forced to include pornographic literature in their curriculum by the school district upon threat of losing their jobs.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has also responded to parents raising alarms about pornographic materials in schools.
“A growing number of parents of Texas students are becoming increasingly alarmed about some of the books and other content found in public school libraries that are extremely inappropriate in the public education system,” Abbott wrote in a letter to Dan Troxell, the Executive Director of the Texas Association of School Boards, on November 1.
“Collectively, your organization’s members have an obligation to determine the extent to which such materials exist or are used in our schools and to remove any such content. You must also ensure transparency about the materials being taught in the classroom and offered in school libraries. Also, each of our schools should have an appropriate and transparent process to vet library materials before they are used. You have an obligation to Texas parents and students to ensure that no child in Texas is exposed to pornography or other inappropriate content while inside a Texas public school.”
Abbott must have been unhappy with the response to that letter, because on November 10, the governor escalated the issue by writing to Mike Morath, who is the Commissioner of the Texas Education Agency. In his letter, Abbott demanded action.
“While the Texas Association of School Boards has refused to assist their member school boards to address this issue, the State of Texas must act for the sake of Texas students and parents,” the governor wrote.
“That is why I am directing the Texas Education Agency to investigate any criminal activity in our public schools involving the availability of pornography. During this investigation, I ask the agency to refer any instance of pornography being provided to minors under the age of 18 for prosecution to the fullest extent of the law.”
School boards and administrators need to be held accountable for the materials they are exposing our children too. Hopefully, more states and governors will follow the examples of South Carolina and Texas in demanding that accountability.
Related:
2021 School Board Elections – Fighting for the Next Generation
Fighting for the Next Generation: School Board Elections and Comprehensive Sexuality Education
Parents in Virginia Pushing Back Against Library Books that Confuse and Sexualize Children
Austin School District Approves Sexualizing Children Over Parents’ Protests
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