PHOENIX β State senators agreed to have the Arizona Department of Education come up with a list of books that cannot be used in public schools.
Mondayβs 16-12 party-line vote came after Sen. Justine Wadsack, R-Tucson, the sponsor of SB 1700, said school libraries in Arizona have copies of βBeyond Magenta,β a book about transgender and nonbinary teens.
Wadsack said what concerns her, is a βvery explicit imagery of 6-year-old children giving oral sex.β
Multiple reviews of the book do mention a description of a boy describing his own experiences at that age, with no references to actual images.
Wadsack acknowledged she has not actually seen the book.
βBut I have seen others,β she told Capitol Media Services.
And Wadsack provided fairly explicit drawings of nudity and sex organs she said parents have forwarded to her as found in books in general circulation at schools.
Mondayβs vote came over the objections of several Democrats.
Sen. Christine Marsh, D-Phoenix, a former teacher, said existing law already gives parents access to the titles of books that are being used in classes and in libraries.
And she said some may be inappropriate for some children.
βHowever, thereβs no room for banning books in the classroom simply because it upsets one group of people at the expense of so many others,β Marsh said.
She said SB 1700 is set up so that any parent can ask the Department of Education to place a book on the βbannedβ list if he or she finds the books to be βlewd or sexual in nature, to promote gender fluidity or gender pronouns or to groom children into normalizing pedophilia.β
There do not appear to be specific rules for that agency to determine what crosses the line. Instead, the legislation says the department will review each submission along with the parentβs basis for concluding it fits into one of those categories.
βAnd if the department agrees with the parentβs findings, the department shall add the book to the the list,β it says.
And itβs not just books.
That list also can include anything made available to students in electronic or print format.
Creating such a list is just asking for trouble, Marsh said.
βThose will be the books the kids want to read,β she said.
Sen. Anna Hernandez, D-Phoenix, said her concern extends to what the legislation decides is unacceptable. She cited the verbiage making off limits anything βto promote gender fluidity or gender pronouns.β
βGender fluidity is not a thing promoted,β Hernandez said.
βThere are no brochures trying to sell it,β she continued. βGender fluidity is a naturally occurring phenomenon some people experience.β
In essence, Hernandez said, gender fluidity is simply βpart of the human condition.β
βYou might as well include books that promote left-handedness or curly hair,β she said.
βThey donβt come as consequences of promotion,β Hernandez said. βGender fluidity will happen whether there are books mentioning it or not.β
And she said that just because some lawmakers donβt understand it or have experienced it does not mean it should be legislated.
Wadsack criticized the Democratic foes of her bill.
βI find it very disturbing that my counterparts on the other side of the aisle continue to make excuses after excuses, as does the public, for these books that are found in our childrenβs schools,β she said.
βThey all want to defend the books, they all want to talk about the books,β Wadsack said. βBut theyβre not defending the rights of the child to have an innocent childhood.β
What her bill does, Wadsack said, is provide parents with not just access to books but a βpathway to complain about these books that they find to be illicit.β
βThis will allow them to finally protect children from being sexualized by our public schools,β she said.
And Wadsack said thereβs no gray area here.
βYou open the book and you look at the pictures and you can see very clearly when you have 6-year-old children giving oral sex, that the book is explicit,β she said, a picture that, again, Wadsack acknowledged she has never seen.
Mondayβs vote sends the measure to the House.