Last week, one of the Library Porn Bills MFI has been fighting for years, An Act Regarding Free Expression, passed the Massachusetts House.
This bill, S.2726, is designed to keep vulgar, sexually explicit books on the shelves of public school libraries, where minor students can access them. And, the legislators who supported this bill just ensured that this content could make its way into your child’s schools more easily.
You can learn more about why we oppose this bill in our brief. Note: Bill numbers have changed, but content remains the same.
This bill passed with 153 YEAS and 3 NAYS – see how your representative voted for this dangerous bill below.
Schools have a moral duty to keep inappropriate material away from kids. But this bill would prevent a school committee from removing an explicit book from a library unless the book is “devoid of any educational, literary, artistic or social value or is not age appropriate for any children who attend the school.”
This subjectively worded standard sets no real limits on what material can be in school libraries; everything would be fair game, even for the youngest of students.
As we can see in State Rep. Aaron Saunders’ recent Facebook post on this bill, the books that supporters of this bill hope stay in school libraries include highly controversial material. One of the books depicted, “This Book is Gay,” includes adult content such as instructions on how to perform sex acts, as well as how to use hookup apps to meet strangers for sex. Advocates of this bill are more concerned with protecting pornographic books than they are with protecting kids from sexualization – and that’s exactly why we oppose it.
Because this bill may pass the Senate soon making inappropriate content more prevalent in schools, it is critical to understand your parental rights.
Under Mahmoud v. Taylor, parents can opt out of material with more confidence, including books. If a book or other educational content poses “a very real threat of undermining” parents’ ability to instill their religious beliefs in their children, parents can confidently opt their children out.
Read more about Mahmoud’s impact on Massachusetts public schools here.
Though we are disappointed that the House passed this outrageous bill, there is still hope for parents to protect their children. We’ll be working harder than ever to protect your opt-out rights in public schools.
If you or someone you know tried to opt out of objectionable material but were denied, contact the Massachusetts Liberty Legal Center today.
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