A group of Texas authors have an issue with two Texas politician's efforts to single out school library books.
Last month, state representative Matt Krause compiled a list of 850 books and asked school districts if they had any copies, what they paid for them and where they were being kept.
Many of the targeted books deal with race, sexuality and and gender.
Krause said the books "might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex."
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has sided with Krause. More recently the governor singled out two books he deemed pornographic.
Sergio Troncoso is president of the Texas Institute of Letters, an 85-year-old non-profit which celebrates Texas literature. He says any move to ban books is dangerous. "It really stifles freedom,freedom to read, freedom to think, freedom for marginalized voices that see themselves in these books."
Troncoso says when you propose to ban books, or get close to that idea "that can turn into a form of authoritarianism that destroys freedom of thought and encourages the cruel and the powerful politicians to prey on the vulnerable, all for political gain."
He says whether this works depends on "people not reading, people not engaging but just waving some sort of red flag and saying there's some sort of pornography in the library."
The Texas institute sent a letter to school districts in response.
His group has sent a letter to all Texas school districts to stand together. Troncoso says the books on the list represent voices from marginalized communities, including Latinos, African Americans, LGBT and transgendered people.
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