![]() ![]() “It has to be utterly without redeeming social value,” he said. Yeah, I think that might be true, although it would depend on what you call “pornography.” As Jonathan Friedman, director of free expression and education at PEN America, pointed out, Abbott cited a section of Texas Penal Code that deals with the sale or distribution of “harmful material” to minors, which has a very specific legal definition. “The presence of pornography in schools is not only inappropriate, but it is also against the law,” Abbott wrote. ![]() The state agencies said they would comply with his request. In an official communication Abbott called on the Texas Education Agency, the State Board of Education and Texas’s library and archives commission to develop standards to prevent the presence of “pornography and other obscene content” in schools - though he didn’t specify what kind of standards. I should have expected that those politicians demanding the removal from schools of books on “critical race theory” and other titles dealing with race and gender that might cause “discomfort” would inevitably fall back on that old standby of the book banners - the claim that school libraries and classrooms have been flooded with - hold onto your hats - pornography! But there was Texas Governor Greg Abbott this week directing Texas education officials to investigate whether pornography is available in public schools and to notify law enforcement if such material is accessible. ![]()
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