1. United States
2. Ariz.
3. Letter

I urge you to oppose the Stop the Sexualization of Children Act, legislation that would ban books and erase transgender youth from federally funded educational programs. This bill threatens the constitutional rights of students and educators while creating an arbitrary, restrictive canon that excludes contemporary literature and medically accurate health information. The bill prohibits federal funding for any program serving individuals under 18 that includes materials involving gender dysphoria or transgenderism. This constitutes viewpoint-based discrimination that targets LGBTQ students for erasure from curricula. By incorporating the definition of sexually explicit conduct from 18 U.S.C. Section 2256(2), a criminal statute designed to prosecute child exploitation, the legislation conflates standard educational content with criminal conduct. Teachers providing age-appropriate health education or assigning contemporary literature could face legal jeopardy under standards designed for criminal prosecution rather than pedagogical appropriateness. The bill's definition of permissible classic works relies exclusively on the 1990 edition of Great Books of the Western World, two specific articles by Thomas Purifoy Jr. and Mary Pierson Purifoy, and the 2019-2020 Smarthistory AP Art History guide. This arbitrary selection excludes significant literary and artistic contributions based solely on publication date or anthology inclusion, creating an inflexible canon that limits educational diversity and cultural representation. Transgender youth deserve to see themselves reflected in their education. Excluding materials that acknowledge their existence sends a harmful message that their identities are shameful or inappropriate. This erasure contradicts established medical consensus from organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics regarding gender-affirming care and support for transgender adolescents. The legislation provides no designated enforcement agency, compliance procedures, or cost estimates for implementation. Educational institutions would face impossible choices between comprehensive, inclusive education and federal funding, with unknown but potentially substantial expenses for curriculum review, staff training, and material removal. I ask you to oppose this legislation and protect the rights of all students to access diverse, medically accurate educational content.