1. United States
2. N.H.
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to oppose H.R. 7661, the "Stop the Sexualization of Children Act," introduced by Representative Mary Miller with 17 co-sponsors. This legislation would ban books containing LGBTQ+ content from public schools nationwide by prohibiting federal funds under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 from supporting any program with "sexually oriented material," which the bill defines to include content addressing "gender dysphoria or transgenderism." The bill's intentionally vague language mirrors state and local book bans that have already removed hundreds of titles from library shelves. Katy Independent School District in Texas banned over 140 LGBTQ+ books under similar policies targeting "sexually explicit materials" and books about "gender fluidity." In South Carolina, Greenville Public Library banned all books with trans themes for readers under 18, prompting an ACLU lawsuit, while York County Library expanded its ban to include "gender identity" books. Iowa's Senate File 496 and Idaho's House Bill 710 face ongoing legal challenges for similar overreach. Discussion of gender identity is not sexualization. Making diverse books available to students reflects the reality that LGBTQ+ people exist in our communities and deserve representation in literature. These broad definitions could be weaponized to remove any book by or about LGBTQ+ individuals, effectively erasing an entire community from educational spaces. While H.R. 7661 technically applies only to institutions using Elementary and Secondary Education Act funds, patterns at state and local levels demonstrate these restrictions inevitably expand to all public libraries. This represents a dangerous federal overreach that threatens intellectual freedom and targets vulnerable young people who benefit from seeing themselves reflected in literature. I ask that you vote against H.R. 7661 and publicly oppose this legislation. Our students deserve access to diverse perspectives and stories that reflect the full spectrum of human experience.