{"id":412317,"date":"2026-08-20T23:16:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T23:16:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/412317\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T23:16:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T23:16:29","slug":"lubbock-activists-urge-trustees-to-remove-explicit-books-from-school-libraries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/412317\/","title":{"rendered":"Lubbock Activists Urge Trustees To Remove Explicit Books From School Libraries"},"content":{"rendered":"

Concerned local residents testified before the Lubbock Independent School District board of trustees during a specially called meeting regarding explicit books that can be found on the school library shelves district-wide.<\/p>\n

During the Wednesday night board meeting, trustees heard several concerned local residents and members of a local Turning Point USA chapter read sexually explicit excerpts from flagged books. The activists argued that it is illegal for the books to remain on school library shelves.<\/p>\n

Testifiers read from books including \u201cThe Female of the Species,\u201d \u201cNineteen Minutes,\u201d \u201cHeroine,\u201d \u201cKingdom of the Ash,\u201d and \u201cLighter than My Shadow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stephen Lara, a leader of the Lubbock Turning Point USA chapter, told the committee that the group believes that the district is \u201cfailing to follow the laws and standards established to protect Texas children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lara also read a statement from State Board of Education Member Julie Pickren<\/a> (R\u2013Pearland), who asserted that \u201cpornography can have lasting harmful effects on developing minds\u201d and that \u201cearly exposure can contribute to distorted views of sex and relationships, sexual risk-taking, compulsive behaviors, and normalization of sexual explicit material.\u201d<\/p>\n

Activists highlighted that these books are indecent and profane, and celebrate, normalize, and encourage \u201cthings that are damaging to individuals, families, and communities.\u201d Several residents testified that it is \u201cillegal\u201d for these materials to remain on school library shelves under newly enacted state law Senate Bill 13<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A handful of community members objected to the removal of these books from the school library shelves, claiming that the district already has a parental choice system and that these books build a child\u2019s resilience to real-world issues.<\/p>\n

After public testimony, the board proceeded to vote on appeals of books challenged by community members.<\/p>\n

Challenged books \u201cMe and Earl and the Dying Girl\u201d by Jesse Andrews, \u201cHeroine\u201d by Mindy McGinnis, \u201cKingdom of Ash\u201d Sarah J. Maas, \u201cLighter Than My Shadow\u201d by Katie Green, \u201cLord of Shadows\u201d by Cassandra Clare, \u201cThe Lovely Bones\u201d by Alice Sebold, \u201cLady Midnight\u201d by Cassandra Clare, and \u201cThe Female of the Species\u201d by Mindy McGinnis, were all moved to or kept in high school libraries by the board.<\/p>\n

This action by the Lubbock ISD board of trustees follows<\/a> Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick<\/a>\u2019s warning for school districts to \u201cbe aware\u201d that if they continue to refuse to remove explicit books before the next legislative session, lawmakers could pass legislation to drop the school district\u2019s letter accountability rating down one.<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

\n Addie Hovland is a journalist for Texas Scorecard. She hails from South Dakota and is passionate about spreading truth. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Concerned local residents testified before the Lubbock Independent School District board of trustees during a specially called meeting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412318,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[168,170,169,125544,1563],"class_list":["post-412317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news","tag-protect-texas-children","tag-public-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412317\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}