1. United States
2. Ariz.
3. Letter

H.R. 7661 and S. 4925, the Nationwide Book Ban Bill, represent government overreach into what children are allowed to read and must be defeated. This legislation strips libraries, schools, and local communities of their authority over educational materials and replaces professional judgment with sweeping federal censorship. Book bans do not protect children. They target stories by and about LGBTQ+ youth, people of color, and people with disabilities, erasing their experiences from library shelves and classrooms. This is not child safety. It is the deliberate silencing of marginalized voices, and it harms every student by narrowing the range of ideas and perspectives they are allowed to encounter. Librarians and educators are trained professionals who already follow established, transparent processes for selecting age appropriate materials. This bill discards their expertise and substitutes it with political ideology imposed from Washington. Elected officials should not be in the business of deciding which stories children are permitted to read. Censorship on this scale has consequences. Students denied access to a full range of literature are less prepared for college, careers, and civic life. A generation raised on a restricted, government-approved reading list is not a generation equipped for critical thinking or informed citizenship. That is the real danger this bill poses, not the books it seeks to ban. Reject H.R. 7661 and S. 4925 outright. Libraries and schools must remain free to serve every child, not just the ones whose identities and families some legislators find acceptable. Fund libraries. Trust educators. Keep the government out of the business of banning books.