(CN) — Ratcheting up the urgency of his call for removal of pornographic books from Texas public schools, in particular books by queer authors he claims contain obscene material, Governor Greg Abbott directed the state’s education agency Wednesday to open a criminal probe.
“The presence of pornography in schools is not only inappropriate, but it is also against the law,” Abbott, a Republican running for his third term as governor, wrote in a letter to Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath.
Abbott cites a section of the Texas Penal Code stating it is a class A misdemeanor, punishable by a up to a year in county jail and a $4,000 maximum fine, for adults to sell, distribute, exhibit or display material involving sex, nudity, or excretion to anyone younger than 18.
The governor’s letter comes two days after he asked the Texas Education Agency, the State Board of Education and the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, to start developing statewide standards to keep pornography and other obscene content out of Texas public schools.
In calling for no-porn-in-public-schools standards, Abbott mentioned two books: “Gender Queer: a Memoir” by Maia Kobabe, who identifies as nonbinary, and “In the Dream House” by Carmen Maria Machado, a lesbian.
Both books have stirred controversy in Texas school districts.
The Keller Independent School District in suburban Fort Worth removed Kobabe’s memoir from one of its high school libraries late last month after a parent complained it contains “legitimate visual porn,” including illustrations of oral sex.
School districts in Virginia and Florida have also banned “Gender Queer” and it has been targeted at schools in Rhode Island, New Jersey and Ohio, Kobabe noted in an Oct. 29 column in the Washington Post.
Kobabe explained she wrote the book for her own parents and extended family to shed light on her experience coming to terms with her nonbinary gender identity.
“One of the charges thrown against the book was that it promoted pedophilia — based on a single panel depicting an erotic ancient Greek vase,” Kobabe wrote. “Others simply called it pornography, a common accusation against work with themes of queer sexuality.”
She cautioned against removing books by LGBTQ authors from schools because she said they provide a lifeline for queer youth to find information about their identities.
In February, a parent in Leander, Texas, a suburb of the state capital Austin, pulled out a pink dildo at a school board meeting in protest of Machado’s book, which details her abusive relationship with a college girlfriend and mentions their use of dildoes.
The Leander Independent School District has removed Machado’s memoir from its high school libraries. It had been on a list of recommended titles for Leander high school English classes.
Machado addressed the controversy in a column of her own in May. She said she wrote “In the Dream House” due to the dearth of memoirs about domestic violence in queer relationships and accused those wanting to ban it of homophobia.
“They accuse teachers who want to assign my book of ‘grooming’ students, language that’s often used to accuse someone of being a pedophile and a common conservative dog whistle when it comes to queer art. They want to shield their children from anything that suggests a world beyond their narrow perception,” she wrote.
Critics say Abbott is glomming on to the latest flashpoint in the nation’s culture wars, as Republicans seek to ban books discussing America’s history of institutional racism for fear it will make white children uncomfortable or give them feelings of guilt, and other topics they find distasteful.
In his role as chairman of the Texas House General Investigating Committee, state Representative Matt Krause, a Fort Worth Republican, recently sent a letter to Texas school districts, along with a list of 850 books, including Machado’s and Kobabe’s, and told them to identify how many copies of each they had and the amount of money they spent on them.
He also asked them to identify any other books that address human sexuality, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV or AIDs or “contain material that might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex or convey that a student, by virtue of their race or sex, is inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or unconsciously.”
Krause gave the districts until Friday to respond.
He is running for Texas attorney general against incumbent Ken Paxton and pundits say he is using the issue to distinguish himself in a crowded field of GOP primary challengers, including Texas General Land Office Commissioner George P. Bush and former Texas Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman.
U.S. Representative Louie Gohmert, whose home office is in the East Texas city of Tyler, is also considering a run for Texas attorney general. On Tuesday, Gohmert said he will run if he can raise $1 million in the next 10 days, the Texas Tribune reported.
Parents’ rights to have a say in their children’s educations, including what books they are assigned or can check out in school libraries, was a key issue in Virginia’s Nov. 2 gubernatorial election. And it is set to be a topic of heated debate in Texas’ elections for governor and attorney general next year.
Abbott made that clear in his letter Wednesday to the Texas Education Agency.
He directed it to investigate the availability of pornography in public schools and refer to law enforcement any school employees who have given such material to underage students for “prosecution to the fullest extent of the law.”
The Texas Education Agency said it is reviewing Abbott’s letter but gave no timeline for the probe. “In accordance with our longstanding practice related to investigations, we will provide an update at the appropriate time,” it said in an emailed statement.
Avatara Smith-Carrington, a staff attorney in the Dallas office of the LGBTQ-focused civil rights organization Lambda Legal, noted Abbott’s directive to the Texas Education Agency comes after he signed Republican-backed bills in June and September that limit how teachers can discuss America’s history of racism and prohibit social studies teachers from being compelled to discuss a particular current event, or controversial social issue.
“Abbott’s latest move is part and parcel of a larger attempt to remove information and materials from our public schools that the governor simply disfavors. Any such effort raises serious First Amendment concerns, and is, in many ways, an attack on our informed democracy,” said Smith-Carrington, who uses the pronouns them and they.
“Students deserve to have access to materials and information created with them in mind, in which they can see their own identities and experiences reflected,” Smith-Carrington added. “Students deserve to have access to materials and information that let them explore different ideas, ways of looking at the world, cultures, and histories. Students should not be barred access to information solely because books provide information regarding race, gender, sexuality, disability, immigration, and health care that the governor would prefer they not learn.”
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