A group of protestors caused chaos with their readings of explicit books allegedly found in Houston ISD’s libraries during Tuesday night’s board meeting.
While the group said the books are available in HISD libraries, parents and other speakers denied the claims and protested against reading the explicit scenes in the presence of children.
A few of those speakers wore “God first” t-shirts and addressed HISD superintendent Mike Miles and the board of managers, claiming children in schools can access books containing graphic and pornographic descriptions. They also said such books cannot be found in prisons but can be found in the district’s schools.
While members of the group read excerpts that contained profanities in the presence of children, parents and speakers tried to stop those speeches.
HISD school board president Audrey Momanaee, who moderates most of the board meetings, warned the speakers and forbade them against using inappropriate words with HISD students present in the audience.
HISD security escorted the group out and clashed with parents outside the meeting room. Outside the building, district representatives also warned them three times to leave the Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center area, where board meetings are held.
What parents said
Parents at the meeting stood up and caused a commotion to stop the group protesting against the books from using further profanities.
Anita Wardhan, an HISD parent of a sixth-grader, changed her speech to express her solidarity with the district’s queer students.
“We love you queer youth, trans youth,” Wardhan said. “For the board to allow that shows a lack of regard but we love you. Transgender students are brave…They have the right to have their own name.”
Cheryl Hensley, one of the speakers, said as an attendee she could not allow such profanity to be read out loud.
“They’re picking out books from the internet of books that may not be there,” Hensley said. “Right now our libraries are closed, the majority of them, so there’s not gonna be these books on the shelf.”
Another speaker, Kathi Beasley, said the school board stops speakers from using words like “hell” and “damn,” which is a disproportionate rebuke when compared with the excerpts that the group read. She also remembers one of them asking her who Superintendent Miles was.
What the protesters said
Pastor Richard Vega and his group of protesters told the Defender their stance is very clear—to get “all the sexually unsuitable, educationally unsuitable and sexually explicit books out of the libraries.”
When parents complained, they responded, “She [a speaker] has a right to comment. It’s in our constitution.”
They also argued that if such books could be found in school libraries, the protestors would be allowed to read passages from them.
Protesters held signs containing sexual content, including excerpts from books and photos, and said access to these books can cause mental “harm to students.” They claimed HISD purchased these books for Chavez and Milby High Schools.
Protesters named books like Let’s Talk About It: The Teen’s Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan, Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews and Trans+: Love, Sex, Romance, and Being You by Kathryn Gonzales.
“It’s straight pornography. It’s extreme sexual vulgarity and sexual content,” Vega said. “Why is this allowed in our school? Why are we spending money on these types of books and not on resources for our children? Why is not this type of stuff stop so we can be able to give our kids tutoring and get them back on grade level.”
Upon being asked to leave, Raul Reza, a member of the group said the uproar was simply because of a difference in opinion and that all speakers should be allowed to voice theirs. Reza, who has been imprisoned twice—once for 18 months and again for a decade—said he pulled inspiration from his own experiences in prison to warn against the distribution of books that “harm children.”
“We believe that these books that are in these high schools and junior highs are very explicit and they’re taking our innocence from our children,” Reza said. “We believe that we should stand up and stop this agenda. We don’t have no hate towards nobody.”
