The Arizona Senate on Monday approved Senate Bill 1700 - which gives parents the power to request the removal of any book that “promotes” gender fluidity or the use of gender pronouns - on a 16-12 vote, with Republicans providing all of the votes in favor. Read more»

A U.S. House committee passed a bill on a party-line vote that would block transgender girls from competing in school sports consistent with their gender identity, a reflection of a broader push in multiple states to curb the rights of transgender student athletes. Read more»

Republican lawmakers advanced a measure that would put Arizona teachers behind bars if they so much as recommend a book to students that is considered too “sexually explicit,” after claiming schools all over Arizona are “sexualizing” students. Read more»

A bill in the Arizona Senate that aims to give parents more control over what books students read in school is unconstitutional, and critics say the bill’s language isn’t really aimed at protecting children but instead targets LGBTQ children directly. Read more»

Republican lawmakers say there’s no place for sexual books in schools, but critics of a law proposed in the Arizona Senate argue that the bill could lead to the marginalization of transgender and gender fluid students. Read more»

U.S. House Republicans laid the groundwork for some top priorities that examined public funding for charter schools and voucher programs, as well as increasing parents’ oversight of school curriculum, and barring many transgender athletes from competing in school sports. Read more»

The governing board is now having to negotiate the culture war visited upon the state by lawmakers looking to start fights. Read more»

Hundreds of Arizona high school students walked out of their schools Thursday to protest the record number of anti-LGBTQ bills - passed by the GOP-controlled state Legislature this year - that went into effect Saturday. Read more»

On Saturday, nearly all of the bills signed into law by Gov. Doug Ducey earlier this year went into effect - and some of them impact Arizonans in their daily lives, classrooms and voting booths. Read more»

A new ban on books containing sexual content makes its way into Arizona public schools this week, and critics worry self-censoring will add further stress to already overburdened teachers. Read more»

More than 1,600 book titles across 32 states were banned from public schools during the 2021-2022 school year, with the bulk of the ban requests coming from a handful of right-wing groups pushing for censorship of books that feature LGBTQ+ characters and characters of color, a new report issued Monday said. Read more»

Hundreds of books across dozens of states are being banned - and a majority of the bans feature books written by authors who are people of color, LGBTQ+, Black and Indigenous, and feature characters from marginalized groups. Read more»

The Republican-controlled House passed a measure Thursday that would ban sexually explicit materials in K-12 classrooms across the state. Read more»

Republicans backed a bill that would ban books like “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” “1984” and “The Great Gatsby” from Arizona schools because they contain frank descriptions of sex and sexuality - that critics say would effectively make it illegal to teach about homosexuality. Read more» 1

In recent months, a growing number of school boards in red states have been calling for the removal of literature from library and classroom shelves - here's some of the provocateurs of prose up for conservative kindling, and a range of grievances. Read more»