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SALT LAKE CITY — The debate about which books are appropriate for school library shelves has reached the halls of the U.S. Senate, where Utah Sen. Mike Lee this week asserted no books are being "banned," and accused a prominent American Library Association leader of "grooming" children.
The Senate Committee on the Judiciary held a hearing Tuesday to discuss book bans, during which the Democratic majority argued that the rising number of book challenges across the nation in recent years have disproportionately targeted books that deal with LGBTQ+ and racial themes, which they say can be key for students who are struggling with their identity.
Republicans focused on the sexual content of several books, repeating an oft-used argument that such books are used to "sexualize" or "groom" children. Lee, a Utah Republican, also took issue with the characterization of banning books.
"No one here has banned any book; you can still get these books anywhere you want them," he said. "The question isn't whether to ban them, the question is whether they should be included in curriculum or in a school library. ... There are a finite number of books that you can put in there. The question is which books should be included and which should not?"
Lee pointed out all of the most frequently challenged books are available to purchase from Amazon and other retailers, even if they're removed from school library shelves.
PEN America, a nonprofit focused on preserving free expression, defines school book bans as "any action taken against a book based on its content and as a result of parent or community challenges, administrative decisions, or in response to direct or threatened action by lawmakers or other governmental officials, that leads to a previously accessible book being either completely removed from availability to students, or where access to a book is restricted or diminished."
Utah is one of several states that has made it easier for books to be challenged in school libraries. HB374, which was passed by lawmakers in 2022, defines "sensitive material" as instructional materials that are pornographic or indecent.
The law sparked controversy this summer after the Davis School District initially removed the Bible from some shelves after it was challenged, before voting to retain the book in all district libraries.
Max Eden, a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, spoke to the committee on Tuesday, reading a passage describing a sex act from the book "All Boys Aren't Blue," a young-adult nonfiction book that follows author George Johnson's life growing up as a queer Black man.
"Is this OK for kids?" he asked of the book's references to sex toys and oral sex.
Lee called the passages read by Eden "pornographic" and "obscene."
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., also read a passage from "Gender Queer," a memoir by Maia Kobabe and one of the most frequently challenged books over the past few years. The passage described a sex act between two men.
Lee showed a Zoom video of Deborah Caldwell-Stone, the director of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom, in which she argued that book advocates should try to reframe the issue of book challenges.
"We found that the thing that needs to happen most and needs to happen before these bills are introduced is sustained messaging that reframes this issue that takes it away from the idea that these are ... sexually inappropriate for minors and promote them as diverse materials and programming that are about inclusion, fairness and the protection of everybody's right to see themselves and their families reflected in the books in the public library," she said.
"OK, so, I think what we saw here right now was someone saying the quiet part out loud, acknowledging what the goal is. There is a goal here and the goal is to sexualize children, to provide minors with sexually explicit material and then hide this content from the parents," Lee said after the video ended.
"Well, of course that's what someone would do if they were grooming your child, if someone were trying to sexualize your child," he continued. "And make no mistake, that is what's happened."
Caldwell-Stone attended the hearing on Tuesday, and said the short video Lee played was taken from a 90-minute seminar and said she was specifically discussing how to respond to parents who call picture books pornographic "simply for featuring families headed by same-sex couples," according to the Washington Post.
Librarians and other experts have said books can help teenagers navigate issues like sex and gender, and that specific passages are often taken out of context of their purpose within the book as a whole.
Democrats on the committee agreed that some books are not appropriate for children, but said the explicit nature of the books read during the hearing is a distraction from the larger issue of challenges against books related to race, sexuality or gender identity.
"No one is advocating for sexually explicit content to be available in an elementary school library or in (the) children's section of the library," said Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill. "That's a distraction from the real challenge. I understand and respect that parents may choose to limit what their children read, especially at younger ages. My wife and I did. Others do, too.
"But no parent should have the right to tell another parent's child what they can and cannot read in school or at home. Every student deserves access to books that reflect their experiences and help them better understand who they are."
