AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Governor Greg Abbott sent a strongly worded letter to the state’s Association of School Boards yesterday, endorsing a group of parents who demanded their children be “shielded” from some books in school libraries, and referring to the material as “clearly pornographic images and substance” and “obscene content.”
Abbott did not mention any titles by name when issuing his blanket warning about what he considers “pornography or other inappropriate content.” However, the books in question mostly include material dealing with LGBTQ+ issues and with race.
The most prominent is the graphic memoir “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe. Kobabe’s widely praised autobiographical comic, a 2020 American Library Association and Stonewall Book Award winner, is 240 pages long; only three of those pages include illustrations of sexual experiences.
Abbott's letter repeatedly blurs the distinction between “pornographic,” “obscene” and “inappropriate" and serves as a very general call for surveillance and possible censorship.
“A growing number of parents and 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,” the Republican governor claimed.
“The most flagrant examples include clearly pornographic images and substance that have no place in the Texas public education system,” he added.
“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 concluded in his letter to the Association of School Boards.
The group declared itself “confused” as to why the letter was sent to them, since they have "no regulatory authority over school districts and do not set the standards for instructional materials, including library books.”
Abbott's letter, the Texas Tribune reported, "comes on the heels of an inquiry launched by state Rep. Matt Krause, a Fort Worth Republican running for Texas attorney general. Krause sent a letter to certain school districts with an 850-book list that included novels about racism and sexuality."