was originally reported by Nadra Nittle of .Ìę

After a public backlash for pushing , State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters is now mired in scandal for an entirely different reason — images of nude women on his office television.

Two members of the Oklahoma State Board of Education are accusing Walters — who was on Trump’s shortlist of education secretary candidates last year — of screening graphic images on a television connected to his computer Thursday during a closed-door meeting focused on teaching credentials and student attendance.

Now the state’s Republican leaders, including Gov. Kevin Stitt, say they support a probe into the conduct of the conservative superintendent who has and backed bans of . for his policies and rhetoric, which came under scrutiny last year when a nonbinary Oklahoma teenager named died after a physical altercation with classmates.

In a statement on Sunday, Walters denied the accusations, which he called “politically motivated attacks” as he prioritizes parental rights and rejects “radical” education agendas.

“Any suggestion that a device of mine was used to stream inappropriate content on the television set is categorically false,” he said. “I have no knowledge of what was on the TV screen during the alleged incident, and there is absolutely no truth to any implication of wrongdoing.”

Board members Ryan Deatherage and Becky Carson allege that, in Walters’ office last week, they saw full-frontal nudity on the TV.

about what she’d seen, demanding he turn off the television at once, and he complied.

Deatherage said he witnessed the exchange between Carson and Walters. A third board member, who said he did not see the confrontation, described the superintendent as “shook up” and “obviously a little flustered or embarrassed” during the executive session.

Quinton Hitchcock, a spokesman for Walters, denied that Walters bears responsibility for the explicit content shown, telling The Oklahoman that multiple people have access to the superintendent’s office. He also described the state board — which has challenged Walters repeatedly over issues including free student lunch, teacher assessments and his partnership with an online school — as “hostile” to the superintendent.

“These falsehoods are the desperate tactics of a broken establishment afraid of real change,” Walters said in his statement. “They aren’t just attacking me, they’re attacking the values of the Oklahomans who elected me to challenge the status quo. I will not be distracted. My focus remains on making Oklahoma the best state in the nation, in every category.”

in a new study on school quality by personal finance company Wallet Hub.

As Walters accuses the board members of ulterior motives, the governor expressed his trust and appreciation for the State Board of Education. “They are volunteers who are sacrificing their time to serve Oklahoma students,” Stitt said. “Should these allegations be true, all I can say is that I am profoundly disappointed.”

The board members’ allegations have initiated (OMES).

“The accounts made public by board members paint a strange, unsettling scene that demands clarity and transparency,” , a Republican, in a statement. “Senator [Adam] Pugh and I appreciate the quick action by OMES to help coordinate through this situation to get details on exactly what happened. More transparency is essential before strong conclusions can be drawn.”

Oklahoma House Speaker Kyle Hilbert said in a statement that the allegations against Walters warrant a third-party review.

“I urge the State Superintendent to unlock and turn over all relevant devices and fully cooperate with an investigation,” said Hilbert, a Republican. “If no wrongdoing occurred, a prompt and transparent review should quickly clear his name.”

Deatherage and Carson want to see Walters held accountable in the same way a teacher would be under these circumstances.

“We hold educators to the strictest of standards when it comes to explicit material,” Deatherage said in a statement. “The standard for the superintendent should be no different.”

, filed by Sen. Beth Mizell, R-Franklinton, would require each public university to prohibit access to content that is “sexually explicit, pornographic, or sexually harassing and, therefore, reasonably believed to create a hostile work environment.”

The bill advanced on April 21 without objection from the Senate Education Committee.

Last year, that detailed how LSU repeatedly mishandled and ignored sexual misconduct on campus, university officials have talked about how committed they are to changing the culture surrounding sexual violence – leading Louisiana lawmakers to .

Mizell said that Title IX misconduct on college campuses “illustrated the need” to block pornographic and sexually explicit content on campus wifi.

“We all just saw two years of Title IX nightmares from our universities,” Mizell said. “I think this is a very low bar.”

The bill would be a violation of freedom of speech rights – Greg Gonzales, a legislative fellow with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, said to the committee – because the .

The bill moves to the full Senate for a vote.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jarvis DeBerry for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on and .

, filed by Sen. Beth Mizell, R-Franklinton, would require each public university to prohibit access to content that is “sexually explicit, pornographic, or sexually harassing and, therefore, reasonably believed to create a hostile work environment.”

It would require public postsecondary education boards and institutions to adopt policies that prohibit such content for all students and employees, and it calls for universities to adopt internet censorship techniques that actively block a user from visiting certain websites. 

Sometimes referred to as content “blockers” or “filters,” such censorship applications are often used to prevent children from accessing certain websites but are also used at some private businesses, mostly to block malware and spam. One of the largest applications of content filtering is the national firewall in China, which blocks free speech, global trade, foreign information sources and other digital content deemed unsuitable.

Mizell’s bill, which was pre-filed March 2 ahead of the 2022 regular session, states that any student or employee who needs “unfiltered or unrestricted access to the internet” for any scientific, educational or law enforcement reason must first obtain written authorization from the institution granting access for a specified time period. Such authorization must be kept on file and reviewed periodically, according to the proposal. 

Another provision in the bill appears as if it would carve out an exemption for privately owned computers or devices, but only if they are not used to access porn or other prohibited content “through an internet service provided by or through the public postsecondary education board, system office, or institution.” University students and employees would have to use an off-campus internet provider to view pornography on their personal devices.

Ashley Shelton, executive director of the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, said Mizell’s bill could run into many Constitutional hurdles and problems with enforcement.  

“I think there are certainly some First Amendment issues, but we will stand with the people wherever the people end up on this,” Shelton said. “How are these things defined? Would a Victoria’s Secret website be considered sexually explicit?”

In its current form, the legislation would leave it to each university to determine what is and is not appropriate and translate that into content blocking parameters. 

Content blocking is not entirely effective and has several drawbacks, according to  by the Internet Society, a nonprofit that provides reliable information about the internet and promotes standards and protocols for internet infrastructure. The most common content blocking techniques can be easily circumvented by users, require third parties to examine private user traffic, often block legal or harmless websites unintentionally, and invite security risks from users who will set up underground or alternative network structures, according to the group.

Mizell did not respond to requests for comment.

is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jarvis DeBerry for questions: info@lailluminator.com. Follow Louisiana Illuminator on and .

“OMG, OMG, this book,” her friend said, alerting May to a book found by another parent in the library catalogue of Keller Independent School District, where their kids go, called “Gender Queer: A Memoir,” by Maia Kobabe.

“I felt sick and disgusted,” May said, recalling text messages her friend sent her showing sexually explicit illustrations from the book. She was angry that any kid could access that kind of book in a public high school without their parents’ knowledge.

The 239-page graphic novel depicts Kobabe’s journey of gender identity and sexual orientation. Kobabe, who is nonbinary, said it was written to help others who are struggling with gender identity to feel less alone. The book also explores questions around pronouns and hormone-blocking therapies.

“I can absolutely understand the desire of a parent to protect their child from sensitive material. I’m sympathetic to people who have the best interest of young people at heart,” Kobabe, the 32-year-old author based in California, said in an interview with The Texas Tribune. “I also want to have the best interest of young people at heart. There are queer youth at every high school — and those students, that’s [who] I’m thinking about, is the queer student who is getting left behind.”

May didn’t read the book, but what she saw — a few pages of explicit illustrations depicting oral sex — was disturbing to her. It took less than a day for May and other parents to get the book removed from the district. May tweeted that same day that after school officials had been notified, the book was removed from a student’s hands.

“Gender Queer” has become and in Texas among some parents and Republican officials who say they’re worried public schools are trying to radicalize students with progressive teachings and literature.

Most recently, Gov. Greg Abbott and another GOP lawmaker have questioned the book’s presence in schools. Abbott has called for investigations into whether students have access to what he described as in Texas public schools. And last month, state Rep. Matt Krause, R-Fort Worth, sent of some 850 books about — including Kobabe’s — to school districts about how many are available on their campuses.

Across the state, books that tackle racial issues such as “Out of Darkness” by Ashley Hope PĂ©rez and “New Kid” by Jerry Craft have been pulled from shelves after parental complaints. in the spring, including “In the Dream House” by Carmen Maria Machado, which depicts an abusive same-sex relationship with descriptions of sex. Groups of Texas parents, often sharing information on Facebook groups, have mobilized to find books they deem inappropriate and have them banned from the schools.

The drama has unfolded against the backdrop of a national debate over critical race theory, an that holds that racism is embedded in the country’s legal and structural systems. However, the label has been used by some Republicans to target a broader concern that kids are being indoctrinated by progressive teachings in schools.

Texas lawmakers passed two laws this year, that they labeled anti-critical race theory, to crack down on how teachers can talk about race in the classroom. And the issue has been in play up and down the ballot — and outside of Texas, including

“We have a problem and need help. Our district has a ton of leftist teachers, librarians and counselors who push this plus SEL/CRT. It’s literally a district run wild,” , where she shared the sexually explicit illustrations from Kobabe’s book. SEL is short for social and emotional learning, and CRT is short for critical race theory.

“Please help us make parents aware of the danger of the cultural changes our society is making, when people say they’re going after our kids, you need to listen, because they are,” she said in her tweet.

The book 

The graphic novel “Gender Queer” traces Kobabe’s own experiences growing up, as the author, whose pronouns are e/em/eir, struggled to identify as gay, bisexual or asexual.

At one point in the book, the author compares gender identity to a scale that was tilted toward being “assigned female at birth,” despite Kobabe’s efforts to be seen as gender neutral. The opposite side of the scale had other factors illustrated with lighter weights, such as “short hair” and “baggy boy clothes.” The image included in the book showed a person trying to add heavier weights labeled “top surgery,” “hormones” and “pronoun” to try to balance the scale.

“A huge weight had been placed on one side, without my permission,” Kobabe wrote. “I was constantly trying to weigh down the other side. But the end goal wasn’t masculinity — the goal was balance.”

While there are illustrations of sexual content in the novel, Kobabe said that students need “good, accurate, safe information about these topics” instead of “wildly having to search online” and potentially stumble across misinformation.

Kobabe, who recommends the book to high school students or older, said there are other novels that have been in high school libraries for years about sexuality, relationships or identity. Kobabe also believes “Gender Queer” in particular became a flashpoint because it is an illustrated comic instead of just text, and that it would not have been singled out so quickly had it been released before the era of social media.

“A person can more quickly flip it open, see one or two images that they disagree with and then decide that the book is not good without actually reading it,” Kobabe said. “To people who are challenging the book, please read the whole book and judge it based on the entire contents, not just a tiny snippet.”

But for parents like May, they say their opposition to the novel isn’t about the LGBTQ community. It’s about whether these materials and images are appropriate for children.“The only reason is because they are sexually explicit for minors,” May said.

The parents

When May, a stay-at-home parent, saw the illustrations from Kobabe’s book, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She said she and her family moved from California to the more conservative Texas about two years ago so she was shocked to see the “leftism and progressivism” in Texas schools. They landed at Keller ISD, which is a middle-class, majority white district north of Fort Worth with about 35,000 students.

That day, the images from Kobabe’s book were uploaded to a private Facebook group with thousands of Keller ISD parents by another parent, who also contacted the district about the book.

Within minutes of hearing from that parent, administrators removed it “out of an abundance of caution,” Keller ISD officials said. The district had one copy of the book in a high school library. It was removed “pending an investigation to determine how the book was selected and ultimately made available to students.” Keller ISD officials declined to name which school had the book.

But the Keller ISD parents didn’t stumble upon the book by happenstance. They were on the hunt.

The Tarrant County chapter of Moms for Liberty, a nonprofit organization aiming to support parental rights in education, had shared a list of books they identified as problem literature in schools. Keller ISD parents took that list and started combing through their own school library databases to find matches.

Kobabe’s book wasn’t on the Tarrant County group’s list, but it popped up as parents searched key words for titles with words like “gender” and queer.”

The group of North Texas parents first started their efforts in September to expunge what they’ve deemed “pornographic” material in Keller ISD after they found out the district had copies of “Out of Darkness,” an interracial love story.

May said the group initially became worried about “Out of Darkness” after an article surfaced in their Facebook group about a Lake Travis Independent School District parent who furiously confronted their school board about it, saying that it promoted anal sex.

The parents have asked for the book to be removed and are awaiting Keller ISD’s response.

PĂ©rez, 37, an East Texas native who wrote “Out of Darkness,” said there is no depiction of the sex act in her book. The passage the parent was angry about was a reference to a female character being sexually harassed verbally by another character. The book itself is a love story between a Mexican American girl from San Antonio and an African American boy against the backdrop of a deadly natural gas leak explosion in 1937 in New London, Texas.

“One of [the book’s] functions is to make us uncomfortable and I think that I’m really alarmed by the notion that discomfort is dangerous because, frankly, I think we should be uncomfortable about aspects of our history,” she said.

PĂ©rez said the problem she has with this movement to remove books from schools is that parents already can specify to teachers and administrators that they don’t want their children to read certain books — without having to ban it for all kids.

“‘Gender Queer’ is the book that matters for some kid — and if it’s not there, it can’t give the sense of not being alone,” PĂ©rez said.

The politics

A day before the book was discovered at Keller ISD, Krause, the Republican representative from Fort Worth, launched an inquiry into certain public school districts over the types of books they have, particularly if they pertain to race or sexuality or “make students feel discomfort.” The lawmaker has said the inquiry could help with compliance with the new anti-critical race theory laws passed this year.

Krause, a member of the hardline conservative House Freedom Caucus who chairs the House General Investigating Committee, sent out a list of some 850 books, asking that schools identify whether they have copies on campus. Krause he will not offer specifics related to how he developed or got the list of books, saying he does not want to “compromise” a pending or potential investigation by his committee.

Krause’s list includes several books on topics such as race, sexuality and puberty, including Kobabe’s memoir. He did not respond to questions about how he was made aware of Kobabe’s novel. Most of the books on the list were written by , people of color . Some authors whose works appear on Krause’s list say he’s targeting literature specifically created for children and young adults that helps them feel seen and broadens their worldview.

from picture books like “I Am Jazz” by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings to popular young adult novels such as “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” by Jesse Andrews. Books that could show up on a college syllabus also made the list, including “Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women that a Movement Forgot” by Mikki Kendall and “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness” by Michelle Alexander.

The Texas Education Agency said in a statement that “TEA does not comment on investigations that it may or may not have opened that haven’t yet closed.”

, four days after Krause’s letter to school districts and three days after Kobabe’s book was removed from Keller ISD, state Rep. Jeff Cason, R-Bedford, asked Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton “to start a statewide investigation” into the novel “and others that may violate the Penal Code in relation to pornography, child pornography and decency laws.” Cason also asked Paxton to look into “the legal ramifications” for school districts that approved such books.

Neither a spokesperson for Cason nor the lawmaker’s office responded to a question regarding how Cason became aware of the book. And the attorney general’s office has not responded to repeated requests for comment.

Meanwhile, Abbott has to develop statewide standards for blocking books with “overtly sexual” content in schools, specifically citing books by Kobabe and Machado. The governor to investigate criminal activity related to “the availability of pornography” in schools — though it’s unclear why Abbott asked the agency instead of the state’s policing arm.

Heads of the TEA and State Board of Education, in response to Abbott’s request to develop statewide standards, said in statements that they planned to comply.

Christine Malloy, the Keller ISD parent who first alerted the district about her concerns with the book, said they’re happy their work on the issue has apparently grabbed the attention of state leaders.

“The fact that the state governor got involved should show people that it’s an alarming issue,” she said.

But Democrats have criticized the movement as attempted censorship and the latest attack by conservatives on the LGBTQ community and communities of color.

“We should be working to build the most inclusive Texas — not targeting our diverse populations,” said state Rep. Mary González, a Clint Democrat who chairs the LGBTQ Caucus. “It is also highly concerning that these attacks are now being aimed at our education system, which for a long time has been a sacred space for nonpartisan politics.”

Houston Democratic state Rep. Harold Dutton, chair of the House Public Education Committee, said in that Krause’s book inquiry was “at worst 
 a bald political stunt that callously blurs the distinction between governing and campaigning.” Krause is running for attorney general.

The backlash

But the scrutiny over school library books, which is largely being driven by white parents, is already a nationwide political phenomenon.

Emboldened by the debate around “critical race theory,” while piggybacking off of a furor by many conservative parents over school mask mandates, , was founded in Florida in January 2020. It has grown rapidly with about 60,000 members across the country, aiming to

Malloy said the pandemic sending kids home for virtual learning gave many parents a better look at what they were being taught.

“2020 is behind it. I think it was a gift,” Malloy said. “It gave us all time to pay attention to what’s going on, what our kids are being taught — what they were seeing.”

Mary Lowe, chair of the Moms for Liberty Tarrant County chapter, said the main focus of her chapter right now is to get rid of sexually explicit books in schools regardless of whether “the content aligns with one sexual preference over the other.”

If parents want to “expose” their children to those kinds of books, they can go to a public library, she said.

The Tarrant County chapter launched around July and has amassed about 1,700 members since, Lowe said.

Lowe said she has meetings with different superintendents in Tarrant County to talk about what they can do to remove these books.

“Moms for Liberty has a strong stance that there are an enormous amount of literary books that are more aligned with academics and expanding the mind without such a heavy focus on sexual content,” she said.

The broader issue, including what’s to come of those statewide standards in the coming weeks, is a concern for some LGBTQ advocacy groups that argue this is just the latest example in a pattern of Republican officials attempting to single out LGBTQ kids in the state — and how that may impact families and workers.

“If you have a kid who’s part of the LGBTQ community, you could have them asking: Is this a safe place for my kid?” said Jessica Shortall, managing director of Texas Competes, a coalition of more than 1,200 Texas employers, chambers of commerce, tourism bureaus and industry association that advocates for equality. “And then you have people who know and love LGBTQ people but maybe aren’t in that community asking themselves: Does this place represent my values?”

Brian Lopez is an education reporter and Cassandra Pollock is a politics reporter , the only member-supported, digital-first, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

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