Meet the Nationwide Book Ban Bill

Call your member of Congress and tell them to vote no on H.R. 7661.

There’s a lot happening in the world right now. With the endless headlines, we wouldn’t be surprised if H.R. 7661 didn’t make your newsfeed.

We want to make sure you don’t miss it.

H.R. 7661, also known as the “Stop the Sexualization of Children Act,” was introduced to Congress last week by a group of House Republicans. If that name sounds shocking, that’s because it’s meant to distract you from the true intention. This bill is an alarming attempt to censor LGBTQ+ stories nationwide.

The bill would prohibit the use of funds provided under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 so schools could not “provide or promote literature or other materials to, children under the age of 18 that includes sexually oriented material.”

What constitutes “sexually oriented material”? The legislation defines it as “any depiction, description, or simulation of sexually explicit conduct” with a specific call out for “gender dysphoria or transgenderism.”

To be clear, this is not an attempt at keeping explicit content from young children. This is a blatant attempt at censoring stories with transgender representation. It’s not a stretch to think this could be used to remove LGBTQ+ books entirely in some places.

While the bill says it would not limit books used for teaching purposes including human health, books about puberty and health have been targeted by book banners for years.

This bill uses the same vague language we’ve seen in censorship attempts across the country. It opens the door for even more content to be subjected to soft censorship as educators feel increased pressure to pull back on any material that could potentially lead to accusations of violating the law.

The rise in censorship is no longer just about putting out fires locally. A bill like this passing at the federal level would result in sweeping censorship of school libraries across the country.

Representation in stories matters and if we want the next generation to be more accepting than the last, we can’t let these stories be erased.

Call your member of Congress and ask them to vote no on H.R. 7661.