Texas school superintendent asks libraries to remove books on transgender people

‘It is very much saying the quiet part out loud’, says legal expert

The superintendent of a north Texas school district has been accused of asking libraries to remove books about transgender and LGBT+ people.

Jeremy Glenn, the superintendent of the Granbury Independent School District, was alleged to have told the Granbury school board in a meeting in January that books about transgender invididuals should be taken out of school libraries.

Mr Glenn said his specific issue was with “the transgender, LGBTQ and the sex – sexuality – in books” during that meeting, according to audio obtained by Pro Publica, The Texas Tribune and NBC News.

“That’s what the governor has said that he will prosecute people for,” he allegedly continued, “and that’s what we’re pulling out.”

In his remarks, the Granbury superintendent appeared to reference Texas governor Greg Aboott’s calls for “pornography” to be banned from school libraries, and for criminal charges against school districts seen to be permitting such topics.

In a letter to Texas’ education secretary in November, Mr Abott claimed that “Texas students have been exposed to pornographic books and content in Texas public schools” and asked for any school district found with “porongraphic” content to be referred to law enforcement.

That has led to the removal of books containing discussions around sex and sexuality from school libraries, however, with Republicans and Republican-supporting parents targeting books on LGBT+ topics as well as race.

As ABC News reported last month, it follows calls from lawmakers including Texas state congressman Matt Krause for schools to remove books about sexuality and race, or those that might “discomfort” students.

Many Republican parents have meanwhile called for LGBT+ topics to be removed from school libraries, with 75 requests made by parents in the Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin areas alone in the first four months of the school year to remove LGBT+ books, that report found.

The investigation into Granbury’s school district comes amid a national effort by Republicans to ban transgender children from taking part in sports, and attempts at restricting so called “critical race theory” from being taught to students.

As has Florida’s legislature passed a bill, widely known as “Dont Say Gay”, banning schools from teaching students about LGBT+ issues.

Mr Glenn allegedly added in January’s school board meeting: “There are two genders. There’s male, and there’s female. And I acknowledge that there are men that think they’re women. And there are women that think they’re men. And again, I don’t have any issues with what people want to believe, but there’s no place for it in our libraries.”

The report said his school district was conducting a “review” of all titles in its libraries.

Legal experts who spoke with Pro Publica, The Texas Tribune and NBC News about Mr Glenn’s remarks said he was potentially violating the first ammendemnt right to free speech in schools.

“This audio is very much evidence of anti-LGBTQ and particularly anti-trans discrimination,” said Kate Huddleston, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas. “It is very much saying the quiet part out loud in a way that provides very significant evidence that book removals in the district are occurring because of anti-LGBTQ bias.”

The Granbury Independent School District said in a statement: “Ultimately, the review committee determined that eight books were sexually explicit and not age-appropriate. Two of the eight books did have LGBTQ+ themes, however all of the books that were removed had sexually explicit and/or pervasively vulgar content. Granbury ISD libraries continue to house a socially and culturally diverse collection of books for students to read including books which analyze and explore LGBTQ+ issues. Granbury ISD provides the appropriate venue, via Board Policy EF (Local), for individuals to challenge literary and instructional resources in a manner consistent with protecting students’ First Amendment rights.”

The Independent has approached Mr Abbott for comment.