Congressman debuts bill to cover school costs of defending books with LGBTQ+ content

Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) is introducing the Fight Book Bans Act as his state struggles with the cost of defending challenged books. Florida has the dubious distinction of being the state with the most book bans in the country.

Libraries and schools are forced to pay thousands of dollars to defend their decisions to investigate accusations of inappropriate content and defend their decisions to include the titles in their collections. Frost’s bill would help to cover the costs of the defense.

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LGBTQ+ groups Equality Florida and The Trevor Project have endorsed the bill along with other civil rights and free speech groups like PEN America.

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“I’m proud to introduce the Fight Book Bans Act, legislation that will help our school boards and school districts overcome these relentless attacks on our civil rights and civil liberties and academic freedom,” Frost said at a press conference to unveil the legislation.

“The Fight Book Bans Act takes a stand against censorship by giving school districts the funding that they need to oppose these challenges.”

“Banning books in schools is not only unpopular; it’s expensive. As school districts around the country divert resources to address widespread efforts to curtail students’ freedom to read, it is once again students who suffer the most,” PEN America’s congressional affairs lead, Laura Schroeder, said, noting the legislation would “help school districts defend the freedom to read.”

The group noted, “When books are challenged, they are often removed from the shelf for review, a process that can take months. At least 48% of book ban instances in PEN America’s Index of School Book Bans from July 2021 to June 2023 fit this category of a banned title that was removed during a review to determine what restrictions, if any, to implement. These reviews, if completed under procedural best practices, require administrative time by district leaders, librarians, and educators, resulting in thousands of dollars spent per book challenge.”

Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), Rep. Greg Casar (D-TX), Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Rep. Shontel Brown (D-OH) also joined Frost at the press conference, noting that their states have also been impacted by the push to ban books that include LGBTQ+ content or references to civil rights.

“[Texas G]overnor [Greg Abbott (R)] has worked on protecting kids from learning, protecting kids from books. These book bans are not public education,” Casar said. “These book bans are a real public disgrace in our state.”