At the Texas Capitol recently, I was among a group of librarians, parents, and others who testified—many of us after waiting more than ten hours—to the Texas House Committee on State Affairs in opposition to House Bill 3225.
As the Texas Freedom to Read Project has summarized, HB 3225 would: “Ban anyone under 18 from accessing ‘sexually explicit’ materials—a term so broadly defined that it includes books with any descriptions of ‘sexual conduct,’ regardless of context or intent.” It would also: “Prevent libraries from curating or displaying many important books in teen and children’s sections, including sex-education materials, young adult novels, and even classic literature and art books.” And it would “restrict youth from accessing the general collection—even for school assignments or research—potentially blocking students from reading The Great Gatsby, The Color Purple, or Beloved.”
I’m a Texas author and I serve as vice president of the Texas Institute of Letters, a literary honor society founded in 1936. One of our most celebrated members was Larry McMurtry, author of the classic novel Lonesome Dove—one of innumerable books that could be rendered off-limits to a big swath of the reading public if this ridiculous bill becomes law and libraries are forced to segregate their books and spaces—or risk fines and other consequences.
