Two Texas book sellers and severl publishers have filed a federal lawsuit to block a new state law for rating books from taking effect.
The new law set to take effect on September 1st would mandate stores rate books they plan to sell or have sold to schools for sexual content and it says vendors who don't comply would be barred from doing business with schools.
Upon signing the law, Texas Governor Greg Abbott said it would help "get that trash out of schools."
The plaintiffs, including BookPeople in Austin, Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston, the American Booksellers Association, the Association of American Publishers, the Authors Guild, and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund say that's unconstitutional, impossible to implement and will hurt small business.
In their filing they say this law could ban classics including "Romeo and Juliet" or "Of Mice and Men" and even the Bible and the Texas classic "Lonesome Dove."
“Booksellers should not be put in the position of broadly determining what best serves all Texan communities,” said Charley Rejsek, chief executive officer of BookPeople. “Each community is individual and has different needs. Setting local guidelines is not the government’s job either. It is the local librarian’s and teacher’s job."
Critics of the bill say the new standards will be used to target the LGBTQ community.
One of the bill's authors, Republican State Representative Jared Patterson says, "I fully recognize the far left will do anything to maintain their ability to sexualize our children."
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