A federal bill that would ban books, activities and programs that mention transgender people — and potentially all LGBTQ+ people — from K-12 public schools nationwide has moved ahead in the House and been introduced in the Senate, while two other school censorship bills have also advanced in the House in recent weeks.
The “Stop the Sexualization of Children Act” (H.R. 7661) passed out of the Committee on Education and Workforce on July 2 and is now eligible for debate by the entire House, although that has yet been scheduled as of this writing. The legislation would prohibit public schools from using federal funds “to develop, implement, facilitate, host or promote any program or activity for, or to provide or promote literature or other materials to, children under the age of 18 that includes sexually oriented material,” including material with “nude adults, individuals who are stripping or lewd or lascivious dancing.”
“Sexually oriented material” is further defined as that which contains “any depiction, description or simulation of sexually explicit conduct” — or that involves “gender dysphoria or transgenderism.”
Targets of the legislation would include not only books and media but also activities such as Pride events or support groups for LGBTQ+ students and allies. The legislation would impact almost every public school since almost every one receives federal funds of some type.
A companion bill, S. 4925, was introduced in the Senate on June 24 and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP). The two bills have nearly identical wording, which often indicates that legislators intend to pass them quickly.
Kelly Jensen of Book Riot, who has covered issues of censorship for nearly 10 years, called the move “a flashing red light on the priorities Republicans in Congress have.”
Books and programs with trans representation are the most obvious target of this legislation, but the impact will likely be much wider. For starters, the bills’’ reference to “lewd or lascivious dancing” could be interpreted to include drag story times, since opponents of LGBTQ+ representation often view drag as inherently lewd or lascivious — even perfectly innocuous events intended for children.
Additionally, in last year’s U.S. Supreme Court case Mahmoud v. Taylor, several parents successfully sought the right to opt out their children before LGBTQ+-inclusive picture books were read in public school classrooms. The plaintiffs implied in court filings that the books in question had a sexual, even kinky, nature — claims that Justice Neil Gorsuch repeated during the hearings, but that have no basis in fact.
That case is clearly on legislators’ minds. The House committee report on H.R. 7661 even noted that one reason for the bill is that there are reports that some states are trying “to circumvent or even defy” the Mahmoud ruling.
The broad language of H.R. 7661 and S. 4925 about keeping sexual content from children, along with the fact that LGBTQ+-inclusive content for children has been incorrectly sexualized for decades, could thus be enough to scare schools into removing all LGBTQ materials and programs, not just those about transgender people.
Let’s be clear: There is indeed sexual content that is not appropriate for children (although this varies by age, a nuance the bills do not recognize). But the mere inclusion of trans or other LGBTQ+ people does not make content sexual, and it is offensive to imply so.
The bills do make exceptions for “standard science coursework” and classic texts of literature, art and religion — but the literature exceptions are based on a nearly 40-year-old list published by Encyclopaedia Britannica, which skews heavily white and male, and on several lists developed for Christian homeschoolers by Compass Classroom, a company whose “Statement of Faith” includes an assertion of Biblical inerrancy.
Furthermore, S.4925 sits in the HELP committee along with H.R. 2616, a bill passed by the House and sent to the Senate in May, which would ban public schools from “teach[ing] or advanc[ing] concepts related to gender ideology,” as defined in President Trump’s 2025 executive order on the subject. That order basically said that there are only two, unchangeable genders and that trans and nonbinary identities are invalid. Additionally, H.R. 2616 would require schools to notify parents before changing an elementary or middle school student’s gender markers, pronouns, name, or bathroom/locker room accommodations.
Jensen noted that having the bills in the same committee “suggest[s] that the two bills may be combined or developed in tandem.”
Yet another House bill, H.R. 8705, which passed the House Education and Workforce committee in May, would deny federal funds to public schools that teach “discriminatory equity ideology or gender ideology,” also as defined in previous executive orders.
Any of this legislation, if it passes, would be stigmatizing and harmful to LGBTQ+ children, particularly trans and nonbinary ones, and to those with LGBTQ+ parents, as well as with other LGBTQ+ relatives or friends. Banning books and programs with LGBTQ+ representation sends the message that these children can’t talk about themselves or their families, and that they and their families don’t matter.
And it means that all children will be less prepared for the world today and the people they may encounter.
Please contact your members of Congress right away, especially if they are on the HELP committee (help.senate.gov), and ask them to oppose the above bills.
Dana Rudolph is the founder and publisher of Mombian (Mombian.com), a two-time GLAAD Media Award-winning blog for LGBTQ+ parents, plus a searchable database of 2,000+ LGBTQ family books.