NASHVILLE – A full-fledged battle over what books and other materials should be available to students in Tennessee public school libraries is underway in the General Assembly as some Republican lawmakers push for new oversight and easier ways for parents and others to challenge materials that conservative critics charge are age-inappropriate and sometimes obscene or pornographic.
The House Criminal Justice Subcommittee was ground zero for much of the debate both last week and this week, with conservative celebrities, pastors and at least one aspiring politician demanding more oversight and outright bans of material on one of three measures addressing school libraries, House Bill 1944, sponsored by Rep. Scott Cepicky, R-Culleoka.
The push in the Republican-dominated General Assembly comes in a conservative state where in January the McMinn County school board voted to remove “Maus,” a Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust, written by Art Spiegelman. It also comes as conservative lawmakers express discomfort with LGBTQ content, critical race theory and other topics.
In the House subcommittee, among those testifying last week was country music singer and songwriter John Rich of Big & Rich, whose hits include “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy).” He charged in the panel last week that libraries are allowing in books and other material that “groom” or sexualize school children much as a sexual predator would.
“What’s the difference between a teacher, an educator or a librarian putting one of these books on the desk of a student or a guy in a white van pulling up at the edge of school when school lets out and saying, ‘Come on around kids, let me read you this book and show you these pictures?'” Rich said.