A 'war on books': Conservatives push for audits of school libraries
HOUSTON — During the last year, Mary Ellen Cuzela — concerned about students being indoctrinated about sex and "critical race theory" — successfully petitioned her suburban Houston school district of about 83,000 to remove two books from their libraries: the novel "Lawn Boy" by Jonathan Evison and the graphic novel "Losing the Girl" by MariNaomi.
Cuzela, a mother of three who works for the district as a substitute teacher, said she was encouraged by Republican Texas lawmakers' focus on critical race theory, an academic framework for examining systemic racism — which is not taught in any U.S. public school — that she considers "Marxist ideology" and "anti-American." She has a list of more than a dozen more books she wants removed from schools along Houston's rapidly growing and diversifying Energy Corridor, home to some of the world's major oil and gas companies.
"I don't want to ban books. I don't want to be a book burner. My goodness, no," said Cuzela, 49, whose children have attended public school for years in Katy. "I'm not into censoring. That is not what this is about. We filter students' internet access. We have keywords, trigger words, that we know people shouldn't have access to as a minor. So why isn't that same process in the school libraries?"
One of the books, "Lawn Boy," refers to oral sex between boys, and the other, "Losing the Girl," features LGBTQ characters.
Liberal parents have also pushed to remove books from schools in recent years: Schools in
