Rep. A new bill introduced by Cory Mills would jail publishers who knowingly deliver sexually explicit books to schools.
The bill, HR 863, was filed last week by Rep. Mills and is co-sponsored by Reps. Marjorie Taylor Green and Jorge Santos.
According to the bill’s description, it would “amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit a publishing company from knowingly providing a school or an educational institution with sexually explicit material, to prohibit federal funds from being provided to a school or an educational institution that distributing sexually explicit material and for other purposes.”
Gateway Pundit previously reported on the bill, but the full text and information about penalties for publishers were not available at the time.
According to a report by The Hill, publishing companies that violate the law face a maximum fine of $500,000. Individuals in the company’s upper management face the same fines — plus up to five years in prison.
Additionally, the law would withhold federal funding from elementary or secondary schools that receive or distribute materials that contain “any type of sexually explicit visual depiction,” including photographs or drawings. Funds are held until the materials are “abandoned or destroyed”.
The bill allows exceptions for materials of “serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.”
“The battleground for the future of our society is being fought within the classrooms of American schools. This bill targets left-wing efforts to sexualize children in schools across the United States,” Rep. Mills said in a statement about the bill.
The congressman continued, “From school board meetings to new representation at the local, state and federal levels, Americans are waking up to the grim reality of waking education as a commonplace. Not anymore.”
The Hill reports, “More than 5,000 schools have banned 1,600 books in the past year, according to a September Penn America report. More than 40 percent of the banned content included LGBTQ characters or storylines.
A spokesperson for Mills told The Hill, “Preventing pornographic material from being taught in the classroom is completely different from denigrating free speech or denigrating the conversation about gender and sexuality throughout our society.” “In our view, any interpretation of this bill as an ‘attack’ on LGBT+ individuals reads through a partisan lens and is disconnected from reality.”
Many, but not all, of the most outspoken books pushed to children in recent times include transgender and gender-bending stories.
In December, even the American Girl doll company released a book urging kids to explore their “gender identity” — complete with tips on how to hide it from their parents.
The title of the book A Smart Girl’s Guide: Body Image Written by a far-left activist and marketed to children aged 3-12
“If you haven’t gone through puberty yet, doctors may prescribe medication to delay your body’s changes, giving you more time to think about your gender identity,” says a passage in the book. “You can appreciate your body for everything it lets you feel and still want to change something about it.”