Gabrielle Russon
Republicans are celebrating a newly passed House bill that they say will take pornographic books off school shelves. Democrats, meanwhile, fear the bill will intensify book removals in Florida.
The legislation (HB 1539) advanced with a vote of 81-29. It would revise a law on challenging books, allowing tomes that are “harmful to minors” to be removed regardless of whether they hold literary value.
“The school district may not consider potential literary, artistic, political, or scientific value as a basis for retaining the material if it contains material harmful to minors,” the bill says.
The bill could challenge the application of the Miller Test, a free speech standard rooted in a 1973 Supreme Court ruling. The landmark decision allowed for censorship of obscene materials that violate community standards, but includes in any evaluation whether a work as a whole contains “literary, artistic, political or scientific value.”
But Republican Rep. Doug Bankson, the bill’s sponsor, argued schools are still displaying inappropriate books. “These are things that if I took a picture of one of these pages and sent it to a minor, I would go to federal prison,” Bankson said.
Democrats’ amendments to weaken the bill or limit the public’s ability to challenge books failed in the Republican-supermajority House.
Florida’s book bans have made national headlines in recent years following a 2023 law to give parents more rights and make it easier for the public to contest books they found offensive. Democrats feared the Apopka Republican’s bill would make it easier to toss books.
“’The Diary of Anne Frank,’ ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower,’ ‘The Kite Runner,’ ‘The Handmaid’s Tale,’ ‘Harry Potter.’ These are some of the books that have been challenged and taken off of the shelves,” said Rep. Rita Harris, an Orlando Democrat.
“You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig. And you can call this whatever you want to call it, but it’s book banning. We are banning books, and when … 5% of the parents in this state can decide what 95% of the parents will be able to allow their children to have access to in schools, we are ruling by a very small minority.”
Bankson, who has previously sponsored controversial bills relating to the LGBTQ+ community, denied Democrats’ attacks that his bill deprives young people of an education or could ban important literature.
“This more clearly narrows the description to things that are clearly pornographic in nature — not removing classics, not removing Shakespeare, not removing these things that we need to have a rounded education,” Bankson said.
2 comments
Michael K
April 24, 2025 at 4:25 pm
I make it a point to read banned books. I think I know what these control freaks are afraid of: smart people full of ideas and people that they perceive as different from a sterile 1950s white bread suburban fantasyland.
The best way to get a kid to read Toni Morrison is to ban her books. Especially if you call it porn, which it is not. Ideas are dangerous to people who hate freedom.
My father disagreed and disapproved of many of the books I chose to read growing up. But he never ever told me not to read a book.
Learn from North Dakota!
April 24, 2025 at 5:12 pm
Even the North Dakota governor vetoed a ridiculous law similar to this passed by their Legislature. Here’s what he wrote (and Florida should listen): “Senate Bill 2307 aims to regulate access to materials deemed ‘explicit sexual material’ in public and school libraries. While I recognize the concerns that led to its introduction, Senate Bill 2307 represents a misguided attempt to legislate morality through overreach and censorship. The bill imposes vague and punitive burdens on professionals and opens the door to a host of unintended and damaging consequences for our communities.”