HB 900, which bans books on race and gender in public schools, passed the Texas House with Democratic support, according to Tweets from Equality Texas. The bill was introduced by Frisco Republican Jarred Patterson.
Equality Texas says the “Book Burning Act,” seeks to outright censor books with any LGBTQ+ themes, characters, or content and require parental permission to access certain other books.
Rep. Shawn Thierry, D-Austin, who is also an ally/ member of the Texas House LGBTQ Caucus spoke passionately on the House floor in favor HB 900.
Rep. Carl Sherman, D-DeSoto, was one of the 11 Democrats voting for the bill. He was endorsed by Stonewall Democrats in the past.
Rep. Ron Reynolds pointed out the fact that this bill would disproportionately impact books about LGBTQ characters and Black and brown characters.
LGBT Caucus member Rep. Erin Zwiener told the House floor her own story of experiencing self-blame and shame as a survivor of sexual assault, saying that she could have used a book about sexual assault to help define what happened to her, and that what happened was not her fault.
“Librarians have experienced harassment and threats and been called terrible names,” Zwiener said, all because they wanted to help children become better readers. HB 900 “is not about protecting kids. It is about allowing books to be discriminated against in our schools because we disagree with the content in them.”
— David Taffet
