Ted Cruz says teachers are bringing 'explicit pornography' to class as Texas leads the way in book wars

• Sen. Ted Cruz says "left-wing educators" are putting "explicit pornography in front of kids."
• His comments come as Texas schools and libraries face "unprecedented" book challenges.

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas says "left-wing educators" are introducing children to "explicit pornography" in schools as parents and conservative politicians in his state target books on racism and sexuality as inappropriate for public schools and libraries.

When asked what he meant, Cruz would not cite particular examples of pornographic content in schools, but instead pointed to books that have made parents angry at school board meetings in general.

"Take a look at some of the portions from books that parents are going to school boards and reading out loud; this is what my child is being taught,'" he told Insider during an interview at the US Capitol. "And in too many instances, you have left-wing educators putting explicit pornography in front of kids. I think that is severely misguided."

Representatives of state teachers and library associations dispute Cruz's assertion about pornography in schools, with one person calling such suggestions "baloney."

Battles over what books are suitable for children in school libraries are playing out in several states with conservative politicians seizing on the issue in an appeal to their base and concerned parents.

In Tennessee, the McMinn County Board of Education in January removed the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel Maus, about the holocaust, from its 8th-grade language arts curriculum "because of its unnecessary use of profanity and nudity and its depiction of violence and suicide." In Mississippi, a mayor reportedly withheld funds from his city's library because LGBTQ books were on the shelves.

Texas, meanwhile, has become a leader in these fights. In October, state Rep. Matt Krause, a Republican, launched an investigation into Texas school district content, inquiring about 850 books that include titles dealing with race and sexuality. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott called for criminal charges against anyone providing "pornography" to students.

In Central Texas, the Llano County Library shut down for three days in December at the behest of county commissioners for a "thorough review" of every children's book in the library. A San Antonio school district in December launched a review of more than 400 books for age appropriateness.

For Texas schools and public libraries, the challenges to books deemed inappropriate by some on topics of race, racism, sexual identity, and orientation — depicting the experiences through the lens of individuals in underrepresented groups — have been "unprecedented," the Texas Library Association said a statement to Insider.

"Books dealing with these subjects are being called for review, or 'challenge or reconsideration' in our libraries in record numbers due, in part, to the recent attempts to mislabel certain content under the theme of Critical Race Theory," the association added.

Cruz told Insider that a school choosing to teach one book instead of another isn't book banning, which he said is wrong and unconstitutional, but "simply making the choices that are inherent in education."

"I don't believe schools should be teaching explicit pornography to kids and advocates on the left that want schools to teach explicit pornography to kids are far out of the mainstream," he said. "I think most moms and most dads don't want their elementary school teaching pornography to their children. They want them teaching, reading and writing, and math history."

Cruz in 2017 infamously sparked a social media frenzy when his Twitter account liked a tweet with pornographic content. Cruz blamed it on an accident by a staffer.

Responding to Cruz's comments about "left-wing educators," Clay Robison, a spokesperson for the Texas State Teachers Association, told Insider "I'm not aware of any explicit pornography that any teachers – left wing, right wing or middle of the road – are deliberately exposing school students to in Texas."

Gov. Abbott has tried to suggest that "pornographic materials are rampant in Texas public schools," Robison said. "That's baloney," he added. He said Cruz is like Abbott, trying to appeal to the "far right of the right wing."

"I find it far more pornographic that senator Cruz played a part in trying to overturn a fair and legitimate election in 2020," Robison said, referring to Cruz's objections to certifying election results.

The Texas Library Association also called the issue "concocted to find a solution to a problem that doesn't exist."

"Proponents of banning books would have you believe that children are being subjected to pornographic materials in school libraries, that simply is not the case," the association said. "TLA believes that parents have the right to decide what their children read, but nobody has the right to make those decisions for everyone's children."

During interviews at the Capitol on Thursday, several Democratic senators said it's important for students to learn unvarnished truths about the country.

"Every day doesn't have to be Disney World," said Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, a member of the Senate Health, Education Labor and Pensions Committee. "Our kids are smarter and more capable of understanding nuance than folks think."

Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, another Senate HELP Committee member, said "it's a terrible thing to do, to start banning books," and librarians and administrators should be trusted to offer age-appropriate literature for children. "I think the whole book banning movement is ill-conceived," he told Insider.

When asked about the topic in December, Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texas referenced the Texas state legislator's complaint and said he understood the concern.

"I'm confident we're not going to ban age-appropriate books for students. But I don't see anything wrong with reviewing," he told Insider.