The Pornographic Schoolbook Bill that MFI has fought to oppose, S.2696, deceptively titled “An Act Regarding Free Expression,” has just passed the Senate. This is a dangerous step towards stripping local school committees of their ability to protect children from pornographic and age-inappropriate materials in school libraries and classrooms.
The bill passed in the MA Senate late last week and has now moved on to the House. Your voice is needed urgently to help stop this assault on parental rights and child protection.
Read our brief on these harmful bills to understand more of what is at stake.
We urge you to contact your legislators immediately and tell them to oppose this dangerous bill.
During the hearing, legislators claimed that S.2696 fights “book banning” and even “book challenging.” Senator Cyr, one of the bill’s primary supporters, said that 70 books were challenged across MA school districts in 2022. If this is true, this doesn’t mean the books were banned, only that parents expressed concern about them. We have to wonder – why is this a problem? Why doesn’t Senator Cyr want Massachusetts parents to be engaged in their children’s education? We aren’t quite sure why parents challenging their local school committee over inappropriate book material in school libraries is considered a problem by legislators, but we wholeheartedly disagree.
The books being challenged aren’t neutral explorations of identity. For example, Let’s Talk About It: A Teen’s Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human, found in school libraries in MA, contains graphic imagery of genitalia in various forms of arousal. This book violates childhood innocence through grooming children into thinking sex is no big deal, promotes casual sex with multiple partners, promotes gender and sexuality confusion, desensitizes children to nudity and promotes unscientific ideas about biological sex, gives instruction on masturbation and sexual activity, teaches about kinks and promotes pornography, as well as promoting other graphic resources. Read more about this book and other concerning material on the Massachusetts Informed Parents Substack.
Image from “Let’s Talk About It,” censorship added.
Books like these being found in their child’s school have parents rightly concerned.
Parents and community members shouldn’t be afraid to speak up when children are being sexualized, and local school committees must retain the right to intervene when it happens on their watch. This bill is not a good-hearted effort to protect free speech. It is a state-sponsored effort to silence anyone who dares to question a school librarian’s book selections. It places the wishes of adults over the protection of children. And in a state where we have seen multiple school staff arrested for accusations of child pornography, including a school librarian, these inverted priorities are unconscionable.
In his testimony, Senator Oliviera recounted when Ludlow parents raised objections to sexually explicit books in their school library. He tried to blame their objections on “hate” and “control.” But we couldn’t help but notice that he never mentioned what the actual books were, or read the sexually explicit material they contain. Why didn’t he tell that part of the story? What is he hiding?
Parents, despite what legislators say, you do not have to sit back and blindly trust the “trained professional librarians” when it comes to the content your child is exposed to at school. You are the expert on what your child should and should not be taught about – not a stranger.
If passed, this legislation would keep pornographic material on school shelves, strip away local authority, and punish schools that try to protect children from sexually explicit content.
This is not a distant threat — the Senate has already passed this bill, and the House could act soon.
Now is the moment to speak up. Our lawmakers must hear from parents, grandparents, and citizens who care about protecting childhood innocence.
Take action today — tell your legislators to vote NO on S.2696.
Then help spread the word: share this alert on social media and encourage others to stand with you in protecting our kids and their schools.
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