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HomeNewsNew State Law Takes Effect in Texas Banning Books

New State Law Takes Effect in Texas Banning Books

A recent Texas law has introduced additional restrictions on the books that students can borrow from school libraries, with local bans gaining momentum in districts throughout the state.

The Texas Tribune reports that the Katy school board banned 14 titles including popular books by Dr. Seuss and Judy Blume, along with an award-winning children’s book “No, David!”. The district is aiming to control depictions of nudity; it has recently forbidden a book about a crayon that becomes “naked” after losing its wrapper.

This year continues the trend of book banning in Texas, with a new law mandating that booksellers rate public school library books for sexual content. Books deemed “patently offensive” will receive a “sexually explicit” rating, prohibiting their sale to schools and necessitating their removal from school library shelves. Meanwhile, books that generally reference or depict sex will be labeled “sexually relevant,” requiring parental consent for student access.

This new Texas law was challenged by a judge in Austin on September 18, who stopped the law from starting.  The judge said the rules for booksellers were too unclear and didn’t properly address what counts as obscene.

The American Library Association found that last year the state made 93 attempts to restrict access to nearly 2,350 titles.

U.S. District Judge Alan Albright issued a written order to block the enactment of a law passed this spring. He stated, “And the state,” he wrote, “in abdicating its responsibility to protect children, forces private individuals and corporations into compliance with an unconstitutional law that violates the First Amendment.”

A week later the judge’s ruling was blocked temporarily allowing the law to go into effect while the court considers the case.

Book banning has increased in the state of Texas prompting an investigation by the U.S. Department of Educaton in one school district after the superintendent was secretly recorded ordering librarians to remove library books with LGBTQ+themes.  The investigation remains open as the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, a department Trump has vowed to get rid says they are committed to supporting students of all backgrounds.

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