1. United States
2. Fla.
3. Letter

Vote no on H.R. 7661, the "Stop the Sexualization of Children Act." This bill is an unconstitutional book ban that violates the First Amendment by restricting what students can read in federally funded schools. The bill's definition of "sexually oriented material" goes far beyond explicit content. It bans any book featuring transgender characters or gender dysphoria, even picture books and memoirs with no sexual content whatsoever. Coming-of-age stories with LGBTQ characters would be prohibited entirely. The so-called "classics" exemption makes this worse, not better. Instead of letting educators and librarians choose appropriate books, the bill mandates three specific lists: a 35-year-old collection of mostly white male European authors and two reading lists from a Christian homeschool company with an explicitly Bible-centered mission. No book published after enactment could ever qualify as a classic, no matter how acclaimed. Teachers assigning Pulitzer Prize winners or celebrated works by authors of color would risk their school's federal funding. Public schools are not Christian schools. While families have the right to opt their children out of specific readings, they don't have the right to ban books for everyone else's children. This federal mandate removes local control and imposes one ideological framework on diverse communities nationwide. Vote no.