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Jared Patterson, a Republican member of the State of Texas House of Representatives, sent a letter to school superintendents urging them to pledge not to buy books from any vendors that carry “pornographic materials.”
The letter was signed by 26 other Republican lawmakers, saying “[W]e also acknowledge school districts have a lot of power in the market when purchasing books and that if we stand together against explicit materials for children, book vendors will be forced to adjust.”
The letter further claims Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe “graphically illustrates child pornography,” though the book has never been found to meet the legal definition of pornography. It is a graphic memoir about growing up non-binary, and received a starred review from the School Library Journal as well as winning an American Library Association Alex Award in 2020.
The vendors that most schools buy from sell a wide variety of books, and the majority of them carry this bestselling, award-winning title.
Find out more at the Dallas Morning News.
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