Oppose S.B. 4925 — Keep Book Bans Out of Our Schools

Vote no on S.B. 4925, the so-called "Stop the Sexualization of Children Act." This bill is a federal book ban dressed up in child-protection language, and it has no place in our schools or our libraries. The bill defines "sexually oriented material" so broadly that it sweeps in anything touching on gender identity, which means health education, science textbooks, and award-winning literature could all lose federal funding overnight. The American Library Association has called it "dangerously broad," and they're right — it treats a 17-year-old the same as a kindergartener and offers a hollow carve-out for "classical art" that does nothing to protect LGBTQIA+ students. Decisions about what information is appropriate for my child belong to me as a parent, not to Senator Lankford or Representative Banks, both of whom have a long record of using legislation to target LGBTQ+ people specifically. This bill passed the House Education and Workforce Committee in March and its Senate companion was referred to the HELP Committee on June 24. There is still time to stop it. Block this legislation and stand up for every student's right to access information.