1. United States
2. Maine
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to oppose HR 7661, the “Stop the Sexualization of Children Act,” introduced by Representative Miller of Illinois. While the bill’s title may sound appealing on its face — no one favors the sexualization of children — a careful reading reveals it to be less about child safety than about restricting access to books and other media. The bill prohibits federal funds from supporting any program or material for minors that includes “sexually oriented material,” a term it defines so broadly as to include anything involving “gender dysphoria or transgenderism.” This is not incidental language; it appears to be the bill’s primary purpose. The bill does carve out exceptions for classic works of art, science, and religion — but “classic literature” is explicitly limited to titles appearing in a 1990 Encyclopedia Britannica publication, the Great Books of the Western World (2nd edition). That standard excludes virtually all non-Western literature and anything published in the last 35 years. The First Amendment states plainly that Congress shall make no law abridging freedom of speech or of the press. Sweeping prohibitions on content related to gender identity — regardless of educational context — raise serious constitutional concerns and do real harm to gender non-conforming young people who already face significant challenges. I urge you to oppose this legislation. Thank you for your attention to this matter.