I support this bill because it will protect all students regardless of gender and sexuality. If students are interested in particular reading topics, there are plenty of books at the public library as well as online. But no student should feel shamed or embarrassed because they asked for alternative reading material after a teacher gave them an explicit assignment.

I was a high school student in upper Virginia many years ago and remember being assigned an intense historical fiction novel in English class. There was one vivid scene in the book where a boy experienced sodomy from a bully. In the 10th grade, I was unprepared to read and handle/process that. Having experienced sexual abuse years later in my adulthood, I can say that that book provided me zero comfort nor was it “a window to another perspective” or a “mirror into my life”, as some teachers like to say these sexually explicit books can be. It did nothing but distress me and it never should have been assigned to 16-year-olds.