Texas public schools required to display “In God We Trust” posters if they are donated

Note that because the Texas anti-abortion bounty laws were not struck by the SCOTUS even though they skirt the laws to let the public overturn private civil rights of people doing legal acts that a small minority doesn’t like, they are now doing the same thing to force more religious views on the public. Several states that tried to implement these laws led to schools posting small or stylized posters / signs that explained when the motto was added as the national motto and added other religions. This law will stop that. The law is intended to make sure the donated posters / signs will be from highly religious organizations to push the Christian god. That is the second point I want emphasize. This is about pushing the Christian god on the public including those who have different religions or no religious faith at all. The law doesn’t say in Allah we trust. It doesn’t say in multiple gods we trust. What about the atheist families, doesn’t this interfere with the parental rights pushed so hard by this same small minority to ban books and discussion of LGBTQ+ subjects in schools / libraries. Parents rights seem only to apply to right wing maga Christians, not any other parents. Hugs

The law passed last year says schools must display the national motto in a “conspicuous place” but only if the poster is “donated” or “purchased by private donations.”

BY BRIAN LOPEZ AUG. 18, 20226 PM CENTRAL

Students work at their desks at Blanco Vista Elementary School in San Marcos on Aug. 23, 2021. Credit: Jordan Vonderhaar for the Texas Tribune

A new law requiring Texas schools to display donated “In God We Trust” posters is the latest move by Republican lawmakers to bring Christianity into taxpayer-funded institutions.

Under the law, Senate Bill 797, which passed during last year’s legislative session, schools are required to display the posters if they are donated.

The law went into effect last year, but these posters weren’t popping up then as many school officials and parents were more concerned about new COVID-19 strains and whether their local public school would even open for in-person classes.

The “In God We Trust” law was authored by state Sen. Bryan Hughes, the East Texas Republican who crafted Texas’ Senate Bill 8, which restricted abortion to the first six weeks or so of pregnancy starting Sept. 1, 2021. The abortion law artfully skirted legal challenge by relying on the public instead of law enforcement to enforce it.

Hughes’ “In God We Trust” poster law is also precisely written. Texas public schools or colleges must display the national motto in a “conspicuous place” but only if the poster is “donated” or “purchased by private donations.”

After an appearance for a Northwest Austin Republican Women’s Club event on Tuesday, Hughes touted the new law and praised the groups stepping up to donate the posters.

“The national motto, In God We Trust, asserts our collective trust in a sovereign God,” Hughes wrote on Twitter. “I’m encouraged to see groups like the Northwest [Austin] Republican Women and many individuals coming forward to donate these framed prints to remind future generations of the national motto.”

Patriot Mobile, a Texas-based cellphone company that donates a portion of its customers’ phone bills to conservative, “Christian” causes, on Monday donated several “In God We Trust” signs to all Carroll Independent School District campuses, claiming it is their “mission is to passionately defend our God-given, Constitutional rights and freedoms, and to glorify God always.”

“Patriot Mobile has donated framed posters to many other school districts in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and we will continue to do so until all the schools in the area receive them,” the company said in a Facebook post. “We are honored to be part of bringing God back into our public schools!”

Carroll ISD includes Southlake, the mostly white, affluent Dallas-Fort Worth suburb. The community’s struggles with a school diversity and inclusion plan — as well as how parents opposed to the plan started a political movement there — were the subject of a seven-part NBC podcast released last year.

The Southlake Anti-Racism Coalition, or SARC, said in a statement that is not happy that the law mandates public schools put up these posters.

“SARC is disturbed by the precedent displaying these posters in every school will set and the chilling effect this blatant intrusion of religion in what should be a secular public institution will have on the student body, especially those who do not practice the dominant Christian faith,” the statement read.

Donations of the “In God We Trust” posters have also been made to the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District, in the Houston area. The posters were a donation from The Yellow Rose of Texas Republican Women.

Moms for Liberty, a conservative nonprofit organization, donated posters for Round Rock Independent School District campuses, said Jenny Caputo, a spokesperson for the district. Most campuses have the signs up in a hallway near the front of each campus.

The Keller Independent School District in Tarrant County has received posters from a private citizen for all its facilities, and they are displayed mainly in front offices, said Bryce Nieman, a spokesperson for Keller ISD.

Erik Leist, a Keller resident and a father of a soon-to-be kindergartner, said the motto represents America’s founding and believes the law allows communities to do what they think is best.

“If it’s important to communities, the community will come behind it,” Leist said. “If it’s not something that the community values, it’s not gonna end up in the school.”

Leist also said he sees it as just the nation’s motto, not pushing any one religion.

The Yellow Rose of Texas Republican Women and the Northwest Austin Republican Women’s Club did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Texas Tribune reached out to Hughes as well as Aaron Rocha, Leigh Wambsganss and Scott Coburn with Patriot Mobile to discuss the poster law. None responded immediately to the Tribune’s request for comment.

“In God We Trust” origins

In 1956, Congress passed a joint resolution that made “In God We Trust” the nation’s motto, replacing “e pluribus unum (one from many).” Lawmakers did this partially to differentiate itself during the Cold War from the Soviet Union, which embraced atheism.

The “In God We Trust” national motto can be found on money and government buildings and has proven to be bulletproof when it comes to legal challenges that assert the reference to God could be seen as government-endorsed prayer, impinging on Americans’ First Amendment rights.

In a 1970 case, Aronow v. United States, a federal appeals court ruled “It is quite obvious that the national motto and the slogan on coinage and currency ‘In God We Trust’ has nothing whatsoever to do with the establishment of religion.”

From motto to movement

In this century, there’s been a growing movement to place the motto in more visible government spaces.

Since 2015, efforts to place “In God We Trust” on police cars, for example, have spread. There’s even a website, ingodwetrust.com, that specifically states the movement is about protecting citizens’ “First Amendment right to religious liberty, a freedom that is being threatened through a well-organized and well-funded effort to remove all vestige of God from the public domain in America.”

For Patriot Mobile, this is the company’s latest effort in its plan to “put Christian conservative values into action” and it has been targeting Texas’ public schools through its political action committee, Patriot Mobile Action.

During the past spring and leading into the May school board elections, the Patriot Mobile Action PAC raised more than $500,000 for conservative school board candidates across North Texas, including Carroll ISD.

The real meaning behind putting “In God We Trust” posters in public schools.

An (incomplete) list of gender pronouns

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/08/incomplete-list-gender-pronouns/

See this really is not that hard. It is simple respect. Hugs.

In this guide, we explain everything you’ve wanted to know about gender-neutral pronouns and gender pronouns as a whole, as well as provide a list of pronouns used today.

By LGBTQ Nation Tuesday, August 16, 2022

Photo: Shutterstock

In the English language, we have masculine and feminine pronouns, which can be difficult for people who don’t identify as male or female. In recent years, there has been a push to add more gender-neutral pronouns into the English language. If you’re not sure what these are, or you’re unclear about how to use them, read on.

Here, we explain everything you need to know about gender-neutral pronouns and gender pronouns as a whole, as well as provide a list of pronouns used today.

Related: The Crown’s Emma Corrin shares new pronouns & opens up about gender journey

What Are Gender Pronouns?

Pronouns are words that are used to substitute nouns in a sentence. We also use pronouns to refer to people other than their names.

In English, we have the pronouns he/him/his to refer to people who identify as men and the pronouns she/her/hers for people who identify as women.

Gender-neutral Pronouns

Gender-neutral pronouns are pronouns that are often used by a speaker when referring to someone whose gender is unknown. The most common example of gender-neutral pronouns is the singular they/them/theirs pronouns.

For example, you can say “Someone left a package outside your door. They didn’t leave a note though.” or “I called a plumber to check out the sink. I’m expecting them at 4 pm.”

Gender-neutral pronouns are also often used by non-binary and gender non-conforming people who don’t strictly identify as either male or female.

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Neopronouns

Although the singular “they” is the most popular gender-neutral pronoun, there are several other options out there. The term “neopronouns” describes a new category of gender-neutral pronouns that are used as an alternative to they/them/theirs pronouns.

Some examples of neopronouns include ey/em/eirs and ze/zir/zirs.

Rolling Pronouns

Some gender non-conforming and transmasculine/transfeminine people prefer using more than one set of pronouns. These are called rolling pronouns and can be used alternately in a sentence or across separate sentences.

Some people prefer using different sets of pronouns on different days depending on how they identify. This is particularly true for people who identify as genderfluid or whose gender is in a constant state of flux.

Examples of people who use rolling pronouns include actor Elliot Page (he/they), singer Halsey (she/they), and Queer Eye’s grooming expert Jonathan Van Ness (she/they/he).

List Of Gender Pronouns

Unfortunately, we can’t provide an exhaustive list of all pronouns, as people come up with new pronouns all the time. Here is an incomplete list of some of the most commonly used gender pronouns today:

Subject Object Possessive Determiner Possessive Pronoun Reflexive

ce cir cir cirs cirself

co co cos cos coself

cy cyr cyr cyrs cyrself

ey em eir eirs emself

he him his his himself

hey hem heir heirs hemself

ne nem nir nirs nemself

qui quem quis quis quemself

she her her hers herself

sie hir hir hirs hirself

tey tem teir teirs temself

they them their theirs themself

xe xem xyr xyrs xemself

xie hir hir hirs hirself

yo yo yos yos yoself

ze zir zir zirs zirself

ve vis ver ver verself

Why Do Pronouns Matter?

Pronouns are personal identifiers, just like people’s names. By respecting someone’s pronouns, you show the person that you respect who they are and how they identify.

This is particularly important for transgender and non-binary people who may wrestle with gender dysphoria – a feeling of discomfort or distress associated with the mismatch between their sex assigned at birth and gender identity. For these people, being referred to with the correct pronouns can help alleviate that dysphoria, increase their self-esteem, and improve their overall sense of self.

Using people’s correct pronouns – and talking about the importance of doing so – also encourages others to follow suit. This paves the way for more inclusive attitudes towards gender-expansive people.

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How To Be Respectful Of Other People’s Pronouns

It goes without saying that you should never purposefully misgender someone if you already know their personal pronouns. But how else can you be inclusive and respectful of other people’s pronouns?

Never Assume A Person’s Pronouns Based On How They Look

In the same way that we shouldn’t assume people’s genders based on how they look, we also shouldn’t assume what other people’s pronouns are. Doing so can reinforce harmful gender stereotypes.

Offer Your Pronouns When Meeting Someone New

Most people assume that only LGBTQ people share their gender pronouns. But having a list of pronouns isn’t just an LGBTQ thing.

Again, by being open about our own gender pronouns, we can normalize the idea of sharing pronouns. This makes it easier for transgender and gender non-conforming people to share their pronouns with others and helps them feel safe to share their pronouns with you.

Apologize When You Get Someone’s Pronouns Wrong

It may be challenging to get the hang of using someone’s personal pronouns, especially if you’re used to referring to someone in a certain way. As such, try not to panic if you accidentally address someone with the wrong pronouns.

But you also have to assure the other person that you are not purposefully misgendering them. When doing so, it is best to apologize quickly and avoid making a fuss over the blunder. You don’t want to call attention to the situation or put the other person in an awkward or uncomfortable spot.

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Add Your Gender Pronouns To Your Social Media Bios, Email Signatures, Etc.

One easy way to encourage the use of personal pronouns is by adding them to your social media bio, email signature, business card, etc. This can encourage others to follow suit and signals to transgender and non-binary friends and colleagues that you are an ally they can trust.

Avoid Phrases Like ‘Preferred Pronouns’

You may have heard the term “preferred pronouns” in reference to gender pronouns. While this is fairly common, many in the trans and non-binary community try to avoid this language, as it suggests that their correct pronouns are merely a preference or a suggestion. Instead, try using words like “personal pronouns” or, simply, “pronouns”.

Did You Enjoy Our List Of Pronouns?

Words matter. Language helps us understand parts of ourselves and allows us to communicate who we are to other people. As such, everyone needs to recognize that other people’s pronouns, much like their name and gender identity, should be acknowledged and respected.

If you enjoyed this article, check out the related articles to learn more about how to be more inclusive toward trans and non-binary people.

Related: How to know if you are non-binary

Parents of second & third place girls file complaint against winner claiming she’s transgender

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/08/parents-second-third-place-girls-file-complaint-winner-claiming-shes-transgender/

All these anti-trans bills that allowed the inspection of kid’s genitals if they are suspected of being trans. What is the justification for mislabeling them? They are better than their peers, they have natural gifts that make them better. This is why the trans women in women sports are stealing the right wins from women is so stupid. What now separating out the ones taller as unfair, separating out the stronger ones as unfair. See how idiotic this has become. All because of bigotry and hate. Hugs

She’s cisgender, but that didn’t stop parents from saying she “doesn’t look feminine enough” and starting a state investigation.

By Alex Bollinger Thursday, August 18, 2022

Photo: Shutterstock

Parents of the girls who got second and third place in a sporting event filed complaints to have the first-place winner investigated for her gender. The first-place girl is cis.

David Spatafore of the Utah High School Activities Association (UHSAA) is in charge of enforcing the state’s new ban on transgender girls participating in school sports as their gender. While he wouldn’t reveal the sport she played or the school she attended in order to protect her privacy, he said that he was forced to investigate her gender after the parents of two losing student-athletes complained.

He said that he also received some other complaints about her, including one that said, “That female athlete doesn’t look feminine enough.”

“The school went back to kindergarten and she’d always been a female,” Spatafore said.

LGBTQ advocates have been warning for years that transgender sports bans could be used by the families of losing student-athletes to attack winners. Some states, like Idaho, require genital examinations in their sports bans. Such requirements would have subjected the student under investigation to an unnecessary and invasive examination.

Utah passed its transgender sports ban earlier this year and this case is one of the first to test the law. Spatafore said that school records are enough to satisfy the law’s requirements “because if all of the questions about eligibility were answered by the school or the feeder system schools, there was no reason to make it a personal situation with a family or that athlete.”

Spatafore said that UHSAA is trying to follow the new ban.

“Quite frankly, this is new ground for us,” he told the Deseret News. “I’m not going to say that we have it down pat, because I have no clue. I don’t think any of us in the office have a clue if we have it down pat. What we want to do is we just want to try to do our job.”

The state legislature passed H.B. 11, the transgender sports ban, earlier this year. In March, Gov. Spencer Cox (R) vetoed the bill, saying that it “will likely bankrupt the Utah High School Athletic Association and result in millions of dollars in legal fees for local school districts.” The legislature overrode his veto.

In June, the families of two transgender girls in the state filed a lawsuit challenging the sports ban, arguing that the bill was “based on unfounded stereotypes, fears, and misconceptions about girls who are transgender. It is not supported by medical or scientific evidence.”

Republican Party official posts image of KKK hoods on social media

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/08/republican-party-official-posts-image-kkk-hoods-social-media/

The party has long been accused of using racism to excite its mostly white voter base.

By Daniel Villarreal Thursday, August 18, 2022

Photo: Shutterstock

The Republican Party of Lawrence County, Alabama recently posted an image on its Facebook account containing white hoods associated with the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), a white supremacist terrorism organization.

The image — which showed the silhouette of a roaring elephant, the Republican Party mascot — was posted alongside a message thanking the former county party chairman for his “countless hours leading the local GOP to represent your conservative values.”

However, the white triangles between the elephant’s legs had eye holes added to them, giving them the image of the white hoods that KKK members wear during their rallies to stay anonymous while striking fear in the hearts of non-white people.

The image was an original piece of art created in 2020 by the left-leaning political publication Mother Jones for an article discussing racism in the Republican Party. The article’s headline was “The Republican Party Is Racist and Soulless. Just Ask This Veteran GOP Strategist.” Its tagline read, “Stuart Stevens says he now realizes the hatred and bigotry of Trumpism were always at the heart of the GOP.”

The Lawrence County Republican Party removed the image from its Facebook page and its chairwoman Shanon Terry said that the image was found during a Google search and was “immediately replaced” once the party realized that it contained KKK imagery.

“I would like to offer a deep and sincere apology for a picture that temporarily appeared on this page last night,” Terry wrote in a public apology. “A google search picture of a GOP elephant was used and later found to have hidden images that do not represent the views or beliefs of the Lawrence County Republican Party. As chairman, I take full responsibility for the error.”

In response to the party’s use of the image, Black Alabama state Rep. Anthony Daniels (D) published a tweet showing the party’s use of the image. Daniels wrote, “Shame on the Lawrence County Republican Party for this disgusting image.”

Shame on the Lawrence County Republican Party for this disgusting image. @TheDaleJackson pic.twitter.com/sf5j4QvneY
— Anthony Daniels (@AnthonyDaniels) August 17, 2022

However, Terry said she would not be resigning as the county party’s chairperson over the incident.

“I regret the mistake that was made, and it was just that – an unintended mistake,” Terry wrote in a statement to WHNT. “The image posted by me on a political Facebook page was not done with any malicious or harmful intent…. My error was rushing to post a thank you note to the outgoing chairperson, in doing so I did not properly review a cut and paste image…. I do not support or agree with any hate group agenda and certainly would not try to further their cause.”

The Republican Party has long used racist anger against non-white people excite its mostly white voting base. This has included using language against “inner city crime,” “welfare cheats,” and “immigrants” as dog whistles against poorer and non-white people. The former President Donald Trump also encouraged such racist views by praising white supremacist organizations and associated groups who supported him.

The Lawrence County NAACP has announced that it will hold a press conference about the image on Friday.

Fox host outraged that school district pulled the Bible from shelves in book challenge

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/08/fox-host-outraged-school-district-pulled-bible-shelves-book-challenge/

Please note she was offended that a few people could get a book she liked removed but feels it is fine if one person’s complaints get LGBTQ+ books removed. Please take note of the last paragraph, they now want to push their ideology of white supremacy and other hatreds in libraries and schools. Hugs

“The fact that because one person or three people put the Bible on the list [is] absolutely horrifying!” she said.

By Daniel VillarrealFriday, August 19, 2022

Photo: YouTube screenshot

Fox News hosts have expressed outrage over the Bible being removed from school library shelves in a Texas school district, claiming that the book should be allowed, even though it contains stories of incest and violence and promotes slavery, the subjugation of women, and the murder of LGBTQ people.

The Fox News panel also said that banning the Bible from schools furthers a Democratic plot, even though the school district’s home county traditionally votes Republican.

The Christian religious text was removed by the Keller Independent School District’s Book Challenge Committee this week because it was challenged for having “sexual content and violence” along with 40 other books, most of which featured Black and LGBTQ characters. The district’s school principals were told to keep the books off of library shelves until the district has completed its review of each book’s appropriateness for student readers.

The four female and one male hosts on Fox News’ talk show Outnumbered expressed outrage over the book’s removal.

“Over the last 50 years, nearly four billion copies [of the Bible] have been sold,” show panelist and former press secretary of President Donald Trump Kayleigh McEnany said. “Compare that to Harry Potter, which is number three at 400 million…. Not only that, foundation of the world’s largest religion. A classic historical text. If you don’t believe it in the religious context, at least it can be appreciated in that context. But that’s the one we’re removing!”

“What’s so difficult to digest here is that the whim of a few has such an impact on the many,” co-host Emily Compagno said, even though the other several dozen books were pulled from the shelves because of the complaints of several parents and activists. “This is literature that this school should be exposed to…. The fact that because one person or three people put the Bible on the list [is] absolutely horrifying…. School administrators need to step up and say absolutely not… Every day without the Bible is a day lost!”

While Compagno said that students should be exposed to the Bible as a historic text, none of the Fox News panelists addressed the fact that the Bible has lots of explicit violent and sexual content.

The Bible has a story about two daughters who get their dad drunk and have sex with him — it’s in the Book of Genesis. The book of Ezekiel includes a woman who fondly remembers her lover as having “the penis like a donkey and a flood of semen like a horse.”

The book also says it’s okay to kill women who have pre-marital sex, to smear animal feces on the faces of lazy priests, and that it’s okay to own and beat slaves.

In short, it’s highly likely that if these stories were in any other books, conservatives would want to ban them.

“Taking the Bible out of schools then furthers the political goal that we know already exists,” co-host Harris Faulkner said. “They want to, on one side of the political aisle, remove things like, you know, the pledge of allegiance and things that have the word God and so on and so forth.”

Despite the panel’s claims that other people – “they” – want to “remove things” from schools, Republican politicians, conservative school boards, and so-called “parents’ rights” groups have dramatically escalated attempts to ban so-called “controversial” books from school, according to a recent report from the free-speech organization PEN America. Most of the books feature educational content about LGBTQ identities and anti-racism.

Keller Independent School District has been at the center of several controversies when it comes to banning books this past year, with conservative activists accusing the school of having “legitimate visual porn” available to students, referring to books with LGBTQ themes. The outrage conservatives expressed at Keller was followed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) order a state board to check if schools are distributing pornography to minors.

Moms for Liberty, one of the national conservative groups pushing to ban LGBTQ books, has started pressuring public school libraries across the country to “accept book donations from conservative publishing companies that promote white supremacist, homophobic, and transphobic ideologies,” Vice News reported.

Moms for Liberty activist wants LGBTQ students separated into special classes

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/08/moms-liberty-activist-wants-lgbtq-students-separated-special-classes/

Told you this was coming. It is all about driving public opinion that there is something wrong and bad about LGBTQ+ people / kids. They should be around normal good kids. Drive them back into hiding. Regress the country to the 1950s. This was not about teacher talking students into be gay or trans. It was about demonizing and attacking the gay and trans kids. Hugs

She said LGBTQ students are “like for example children with autism, Down Syndrome” and should have “specialized” classes.

By Alex Bollinger Thursday, August 18, 2022

Crystal Alonso of Moms for LibertyPhoto: Screenshot

An anti-LGBTQ Moms for Liberty activist told MSNBC that she believes LGBTQ students should have separate classes from straight and cisgender students in schools.

Field Report with Paola Ramos aired last week and discussed the rightward movement among Latino voters, especially in Florida. Ramos met with a group of Moms for Liberty activists.

Moms for Liberty gained notoriety during the pandemic as they attended and protested school board meetings to oppose mask mandates and LGBTQ inclusivity in schools. The group’s past exploits include offering bounties for people who turn in teachers who discuss “divisive topics,” attacking the Trevor Project for trying to prevent LGBTQ teen suicide, trying to get a book about seahorses banned for being too sexy, and saying that two girls briefly kissing at a school function is “lewd” and “traumatic.” The group lobbied in Florida for the Don’t Say Gay bill.

“The kids that do have their, you know, they’re confused, or they are gay or whatnot,” said Moms for Liberty Miami-Dade member Crystal Alonso, “that the way they’re trying to go about it is to make it an open conversation and an open thing in classrooms.”

“But like for example children with autism, Down Syndrome, they have to have special IP meetings with a counselor, they have to be put into separate classrooms. I understand, because it’s a different type of education for children with those disabilities, but I think that for children that identify differently, there should also be like a specialized… something for them, so that they feel that they’re important enough that they’re being counseled.”

Ramos pushed back and suggested having that conversation “in front of everyone.”

“I think for the same reason why teachers wouldn’t just bring a child with autism in front of the class and be like, hey, he’s got autism,” Alonso responded. “Embarrassment….”

“What is, in your eyes, embarrassing about being gay?” Ramos asked.

“It’s not that it’s something to be embarrassed about, but you, I mean, I’m sure that you understand a lot of kids that are young and feel gay, some of them are shamed,” Alonso said.

“Because they can’t openly talk about it in their classrooms,” Ramos said.

“Right, which I understand, but there’s just a way to go about it so that everybody is respected.”

Later in the show, Moms for Liberty Miami-Dade chapter chair Eulalia Jimenez said that kids are being “influenced to be gay.”

“I believe that the gay community has felt invalidated and left out,” she said. “And, rightfully so, they want their place.”

“But again, why does this need to be imposed on young children?”

Members of Moms For Liberty, the group actively banning books across the country, terrorizing queer kids, and taking over school boards, calling for LGBTQ kids to be put in separate classrooms “like kids with autism and Down syndrome”. https://t.co/7skrbxFghW
— Brandon Wolf (@bjoewolf) August 17, 2022

Texas school district orders librarians to remove a version of Anne Frank’s diary from shelves

Texas school district orders librarians to remove a version of Anne Frank’s diary from shelves

BY ANDREW LAPIN AUGUST 16, 2022 4:54 PM

“Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation” (Courtesy Anne Frank Fonds)

(JTA) – A school district in suburban Fort Worth, Texas, has ordered its librarians to remove an illustrated adaptation of “The Diary of Anne Frank” from their shelves and digital libraries, along with the Bible and dozens of other books that were challenged by parents last year.

The book purge at the Keller Independent School District in Keller, Texas, was requested Tuesday by a district executive in an email, a copy of which was obtained by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. A copy of the email also circulated on social media.

“By the end of today, I need all books pulled from the library and classrooms,” wrote Jennifer Price, Keller ISD’s executive director of curriculum and instruction.

It was the latest in a string of book removals being implemented at schools at the behest of conservative activist parents and school board members who are challenging a slew of texts on grounds ranging from their LGBT-friendly content to their supposed connections to “critical race theory.” Some of these challenges have ensnared books with Jewish themes in the past.

“It’s disgusting. It’s devastating. It’s legitimate book banning, there’s no way around it,” Laney Hawes, a parent of four children in the Keller district, told JTA about the order. “I feel bad for the teachers and the librarians.”

“Anne Frank’s Diary: The Graphic Adaptation,” by Israeli filmmaker Ari Folman and illustrator David Polonsky, is a 2019 illustrated adaptation of the bestselling diary by the teenage Holocaust victim. The New York Times called the book “so engaging and effective that it’s easy to imagine it replacing the [original] ‘Diary’ in classrooms and among younger readers.”

The parental challenge against the book came in February, and the district initially dismissed it, Hawes said. Hawes, who is not Jewish, is on a list of parents who can be called in to serve on a committee to review book challenges.

“When we got ‘The Diary of Anne Frank,’ we thought, ‘This is a joke.’ But it wasn’t,” Hawes said, adding that the complaint was that “the book shouldn’t be read without parent supervision.” She suspected that the parent may have objected to the unabridged diary’s references to female genitalia, same-sex attraction and other sexual matters, which have been deemed “pornographic” by parental challenges in the past. But she couldn’t be sure because the parent who challenged the book didn’t show up to the meeting.

Hawes’ committee reinstated the book and thought that would be the end of the saga. But following school board elections in May, right-wing activists backed by campaign funds from a PAC affiliated with conservative cell phone company Patriot Mobile gained a majority on the board. They are now rewriting the guidelines for responding to parental book challenges and have ordered all challenged books from last year to be removed from school libraries in the meantime.

“Right now, Keller ISD’s administration is asking our campus staff and librarians to review books that were challenged last year to determine if they meet the requirements of the new policy,” the district said in a statement to JTA when reached for comment. “Books that meet the new guidelines will be returned to the libraries as soon as it is confirmed they comply with the new policy.”

The district’s statement made no mention of Anne Frank, nor of the Bible, which was one of last year’s other challenged books in the district and thus will presumably also be removed from school shelves. Other books which will presumably now be removed include Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye,” Alison Bechdel’s “Fun Home” and Jon Ronson’s “So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed.”

The district has not shared any timeline for when the new review policy will be implemented. Under the current policy, any district parent, employee or “District resident” may challenge any book in the district “on the basis of appropriateness.”

The Keller district was the subject of a 2021 investigation by the Texas Education Agency, during which Republican Gov. Greg Abbott alleged the district was making “sexually explicit” books available to children.

“This group of people elected to our board, and the crazy parents behind them, decided that the committees must be rigged,” Hawes said, describing parents who would attend school board meetings alleging “conspiracies to take over our public schools,” wearing shirts reading “Alex Jones Was Right.”

Hawes, who said she had become an unofficial activist for district teachers and librarians who felt unsafe speaking out about such policies, said she had been contacted by more than a dozen educators the morning the email went out.

One teacher called her in tears. “She said it: ‘I can’t even let them read ‘The Diary of Anne Frank.’”