Tommy Tuberville

U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., has joined two of his colleagues in introducing legislation that would prohibit federal education funds from being used for programs and materials featuring what they describe as sexually oriented content for minors.

Tuberville, along with Sens. Jim Banks, R-Ind., and James Lankford, R-Okla., introduced the Stop the Sexualization of Children Act.

The legislation would ban the use of federal funds “to develop, implement, facilitate, or promote programs, activities, or literature featuring sexually oriented content for minors,” according to a news release.

“Exposing children to sexually explicit material in classrooms is completely inappropriate and a gross abuse of taxpayer dollars,” Tuberville wrote in the release.

“I will continue to work with my colleagues to remove this kind of content from our classrooms to protect the innocence of our young people.”

If passed, the bill would prevent any public school from stocking or teaching LGBTQ+ literature or books that specifically mention trans people.

The legislation would also prohibit federal funding for programs or materials “promoting concepts related to gender dysphoria and transgenderism.”

Some federally funded sex education programs, clubs and support groups would also be affected.

“This targeted censorship amounts to a harmful assault on historically marginalized and underrepresented populations — a dangerous effort to erase their stories, achievements and history from schools,” senior manager of PEN America’s, a nonprofit organization that raises awareness about book censorship in the United States, Freedom to Read program Sabrina Baêta said in a report published by the group last year.

The bill exempts standard science courses including biology, anatomy and genetics, as well as teaching about major world religions, according to its text.

Federal funds could still be used for what the legislation defines as classic works of literature and art, though these are limited to specific lists and volumes.

Classic literature is restricted to books in Great Books of the Western World, published in 1990, and two reading lists titled “Classics Every Middle Schooler Should Read” from Christian homeschool curriculum Compass Classroom.

Classic art is limited to works found in five specific volumes of the Smarthistory AP Art History guide.