Editor’s note: This article contains sexually graphic language.
A parent is calling on one of the largest school districts in Texas to remove a book romanticizing the idea of performing a sex act on Jesus from its school libraries.
The popular X account Libs of TikTok shared a video of Denise Bell, who identified herself as the chair of the parental rights group Moms for Liberty’s chapter in Harris County, Texas, speaking at the Fort Bend Independent School District’s Board of Trustees Meeting on March 25.
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The school district is home to over 80,000 students, making it the sixth largest in the state.
The video shows Bell reading aloud excerpts from the book What Girls Are Made Of by Elana K. Arnold, which she described as “a very disturbing book.”
Bell noted that the book is available in the school libraries at two of the district’s high schools.
One excerpt of the book recited by Bell features the main character talking about how “I pull him out of his underwear and he’s soft in my hand.” She discusses how she performs oral sex on the other character “until he grows hard and he makes sounds that mean he likes it.” The passage also contains the character providing a graphic description of the taste of his semen.
Bell skipped to another part of the book, which she characterized as “really troubling to me as a Christian.” The excerpt in question brought up a “real thing written by a religious mystic way back in the 13th century” who was “talking about worshiping Jesus.” The book suggested that “she was talking about sex, right?”
The book implied that the woman wanted “sex with Jesus” and to “give Jesus head,” referring to oral sex, she said. The third portion of the book, read by Bell, contains an explicit depiction of a male character performing oral sex on the main character.
“This is not for kids,” Bell proclaimed. “This is not for minors. … Our tax dollars should not be putting this material in our schools. Please do the right thing and remove this from your libraries.”
Bell received applause after she finished speaking. The Christian Post reached out to the Fort Bend Independent School District for comment on the story. A response was not received by press time.
The full video of the March 25 school board meeting shows Pastor Carlos Jones expressing concern that “there are some textbooks that are in our school districts that are very explicit” and “have perverse content.” Jones read aloud a passage from the book All Boys Aren’t Blue containing a detailed description of anal sex.
“I am aware of the new bill that has been passed and I am aware that you guys have the authority and the ability to remove these books with … sexually explicit material,” he added.
Jones noted that changes to state law require the Texas State Library and Archives Commission to adopt “standards for school library collection development” and for “each library material vendor” to submit a list of materials to the state agency.
Jones shared his desire to see “the removal of library materials” that are sexually explicit, pushing back on the idea that his request calls for “book banning.” According to Jones, “We want to make sure that our kids have access to education and things that will not sway them to do things that we as parents don’t allow in our own home.”
Jones explained that state law authorizes school districts to remove books that are “pervasively vulgar.”
Bell spoke immediately after Jones and began her remarks by saying, “I agree with everything he just said.” She stressed that “this isn’t about book banning at all; it’s about age-appropriate material being in front of our children.”
Bell noted that “you can buy any book or you can borrow any book from a public library in the United States; nothing is banned.”
After Jones and Bell spoke, several additional speakers shared concerns about the material available to library students in the school district, including Pastor John Amanchukwu. Amanchukwu, a former college football player who has emerged as an outspoken critic of “progressive and woke ideologies,” asserted that “once we removed prayer and the Bible from the public school system in ’62 and ’63, we went from honoring God to now honoring porn.”
Amanchukwu suggested that “filth” was in public school libraries in the state of Texas because “we have woke and wicked leftist librarians who infiltrate school systems” who “purchase materials based upon their own proclivities and what they think.” He asked the Board of Trustees to “fire all of these librarians” and to “remove the filth tonight.”
Like the previous speakers, Amanchukwu read aloud a sexually explicit passage from a book available in libraries at district schools.
The book House of Earth and Blood contained graphic descriptions of male anatomy. He concluded by urging the Board of Trustees to “go to the library and find out who’s putting the filth in the libraries, find that pervert, and fire them.” The public comment period, which also included community members coming forward to speak about other matters, lasted more than an hour.
Concerns about the inclusion of sexually explicit material as part of school libraries and curricula are receiving increased attention in the United States. Other parents have voiced their concerns about sexually explicit content found in their local school libraries.
In 2021, a mother in Fairfax County, Virginia, made headlines when she detailed in front of her local school board the language found in books such as Gender Queer and Lawn Boy.
During a school board meeting in March 2023, an 11-year-old boy in Maine read aloud from a sexually graphic book that his father said was displayed at his son’s middle school library.
Such concerns have led to the forming of several advocacy groups, including Moms for Liberty, which Bell is a part of, Parents Defending Education and the 1776 Project PAC.
The 1776 Project PAC works to elect candidates “who oppose political indoctrination and believe in parental rights” to school boards across the U.S. The group reports a 62% win rate that has resulted in “over 200 successful candidates over the last three election cycles” securing seats on school boards.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
