In one school district west of Houston, elementary school students can no longer learn about a controversial topic: the state of Virginia.
In response to a public records request from the Texas Freedom to Read Project, Lamar Consolidated ISD acknowledged that it removed the entry for “Virginia” from its online learning platform, PebbleGo Next, for violating the school board’s new policy against “frontal nudity.”
The Virginia flag, adopted in 1861, features an image of an allegorical female figure of virtue defeating tyranny, wearing a toga and holding a spear and sword above the Latin motto “Sic semper tyrannis” (“Thus always to tyrants.”) Virtue’s toga covers only one (illustrated) breast. The tyrant wears a short tunic that bares his legs.
The PebbleGo Next platform is available for 3rd to 5th graders in Lamar schools. The district also eliminated a page about “family types” for a mention of “gender fluidity,” also banned in the district’s new local library materials policy.
The district’s policy goes beyond what was supposed to be required by Texas’ restrictive HB 900 law, which is currently unenforceable under court rulings. Signed in 2023, the law would ban sexually explicit materials in schools and require library vendors to rate material for explicit content. Nudity is not inherently “sexually explicit” – although book banners have previously targeted picture books containing childlike pictures of nude figures and naked goblin butts. The Texas law resulted in one district pulling the Bible from shelves.
PEN America counted 538 instances of book bans in Texas public schools in the 2023-2024 school year. Texas parents, educators, or residents can reach out to the Texas Freedom to Read Project for help in understanding, organizing, and fighting against censorship in the state.
