Granbury ISD recently removed 125 titles from its public schools in response to the latest far-right push by Texas lawmakers to ban a select number of books, restricting educational freedom and hindering Texas students’ ability to learn about complex issues. The books pulled from the Granbury ISD touch topics dealing with sex education, history of racism and inequality, and LGBTQ experiences.
A group of civil rights and equity organizations sent a letter to Granbury ISD this week calling on it to reinstate these books. The letter asserts that public-school libraries are a space where there must be broad and open access to a variety of information about serious and complex issues relating to race, sex, and identity. Additionally, this recent move has already had devastating impacts for Black, Brown, and LGBTQ+ students because it implies that their experiences are not important to learn about in public spaces such as Texas schools.
The recent GOP attacks on public schools ramped up with a letter sent by State Rep. Matt Krause to the Texas Education Agency regarding banning 850 titles from Texas schools. Now, State Rep. Jared Patterson (R-Frisco) is demanding the removal of content relating to LGBTQIA+ experiences in Texas public schools that he and 26 other conservative lawmakers deem as pornographic or obscene.