Oppose H.R. 7661 as Government Censorship of Educational Materials

I urge you to oppose H.R. 7661, the Stop the Sexualization of Children Act, introduced by Representative Mary Miller on February 24, 2026. Despite its misleading title, this bill represents government censorship of educational materials and would impose unprecedented federal restrictions on what students can learn. This legislation prohibits federal funding for any program serving individuals under 18 that includes materials involving gender dysphoria or transgenderism. It creates an arbitrary, closed list of permissible literature based solely on inclusion in the 1990 edition of Great Books of the Western World and two specific articles by Thomas Purifoy, Jr. and Mary Pierson Purifoy. This approach excludes decades of significant literary and artistic contributions based purely on publication date, not educational merit. The bill conflates educational content with criminal conduct by incorporating definitions from federal child exploitation statutes in 18 U.S.C. Section 2256(2). This forces schools to evaluate age-appropriate health education and contemporary literature using standards designed for prosecuting criminal activity. Teachers and librarians would face impossible choices between providing comprehensive education and maintaining federal funding. History demonstrates that those who ban books are never remembered as defenders of freedom. This bill would exclude medically accurate health information, erase LGBTQ students from curricula, and create educational disparities between federally funded and private institutions. Schools would bear substantial costs reviewing materials, training staff, and potentially removing books, yet the bill provides no cost estimates or implementation guidance. The constitutional concerns are severe. The prohibition on materials involving gender identity constitutes viewpoint-based discrimination that violates First Amendment protections for educational speech and academic freedom. The vague definition of sexually oriented material would chill legitimate instruction on human biology, health, and social issues. I ask you to oppose H.R. 7661 and protect students' access to diverse educational materials that reflect our society and prepare them for informed citizenship.