Dan Patrick’s Battle to Keep Smut out of School Libraries
My hat is off to the Texas Lieutenant Governor for picking this fight – and it absolutely deserved to be picked. The idea that outright pornography would be made available in school libraries is a sign that the people who run our education system have lost their minds. So have parents who have no problem with this.
I know the world has changed and that words that once shocked us are now common, and especially so with left-wing influencers. But let’s rewind.
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In the mid-seventies, I was working at a large Dallas radio station and we produced a documentary on the effects of porn. We called it smut. I was assigned to interview the Dallas police and was escorted into an 8-millimeter movie house. I’d never seen anything like it. What I saw was disturbing, but I wonder how different it was from what school children are seeing now.
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It is impossible to shock or embarrass liberals.
You’ve seen conservatives, perhaps at congressional hearings, challenge left-wingers to read passages from some of these books on camera. They always refuse to do it because they don’t want any video of them doing it. But they don’t care.
Video: The Dan Patrick briefing on vulgar books
Lt. Gov. Patrick, at his news briefing, had many of the book covers displayed on easels, but said he would not read passages out of respect for the women present. Trust me, Dan, if any of those women were liberals, they would not blush. But they also would not read them aloud. There are limits to what any leftie wants preserved on video that might be used against him or her in a campaign for office.
This column isn’t about the law; it’s about logic and common sense.
And that’s what Patrick is hoping to pass. He wants legislation that would knock down schools a letter grade (A/B/C/D/F) if they keep nasty books on the shelves. (That might lead to more state takeovers, which would an apt punishment.)
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The left-leaning Texas Tribune, in its article, put the word “vulgar” in quotes to emphasize that this is Patrick’s opinion, but might not be the opinion of Pete Buttegieg. The on-line newspaper also stated:
Flanked by easels displaying printed covers of books he found obscene, the lieutenant governor said school boards and administrators have not been following a 2025 law aimed at weeding out lewd books from the shelves in Texas’ more than 9,000 campuses attended by some 5.5 million schoolchildren.
The key words here are: “…he found obscene….” This is beyond ridiculous. Obscenity may be a subjective thing, but some of these books are so far over the line that any thinking human being would find them so. You would think. But, that does not apply to many of the people who run the libraries in our schools.
They contend, per the Trib, that some children need these books because regular, non-lewd literature does not allow them “to see their lived experience reflected.” Many if not most of these books are virtual sex manuals aimed at the LBGTQ community, although some are about race. Many of them depict masturbation and graphic images of genitalia. Instead of Gender Queer, I’d prefer to see books like Lord of the Flies, or Atlas Shrugged that might teach these young people something about life other than gay sex.
“Banned books” for sale at Barnes & Noble in Austin on June 29, 2025. (Photo by Lynn Woolley for WBDaily)
About that documentary on smut.
I was part of the news department at WFAA 570, located upstairs from WFAA-TV (Channel 8) in downtown Dallas. I was given two assignments for the documentary. First, interview the Dallas police about their involvement in porn in the city, and second, to interview a minister about what the Bible says about it.
The policeman I interviewed took me to a porn house in downtown Dallas. I was about to go in with my cassette recorder that I always carried, but the officer warned me to leave it behind. I wanted sound if I could get it, the officer said the proprietor of the theater (if you could call it that) would probably smash my recorder – even with a policeman present. What I saw was a small viewing room with grainy movies running and you can imagine what they were like. The floor was sticky. The men there were likely long-time porn addicts in an era before home movies.
At First Methodist Church in downtown Dallas, I interviewed the Rev. Walker Railey in a supreme example of irony. I don’t remember what he told me when I asked if a nude picture of Adam and Eve in a Bible would be classified as porn. Sometime later, Railey made headlines all across the country. Did he commit the crime he was accused of? I have an opinion, but I’ll keep it to myself.
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Later fights against porn in Austin.
This would be in the mid-nineties when the Daughter of Logic was attending classes at Canyon Vista Middle School in the Round Rock ISD. I and a group of other parents and activists protested three books that were in the schools. One was I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. This, and the other two books, were pushed by the schools because of an emphasis on “multiculturalism” that we now call “diversity.” The book had some value, but it had nasty sex scenes in it. I went on KIXL 970 on a regular basis to do updates on the fight.
That fight seems quaint now. What Dan Patrick is trying to stop is the proliferation of books that make the nineties books look tame.
Video: Liberals will not read passages from these books, but Sen. John Kennedy will.
Conservatives must fight, but with common sense.
I’ll note that one of the books that I’ve seen listed is by Daniel Keyes and is entitled Flowers for Algernon. This book is an expanded version of the original short story about a mouse named Algernon that is mentally enhanced through surgery, leading to a trial on a man of low intellect. It became the movie Charly starring Cliff Robertson.
In the novel, Charlie Gordon struggles to express his sexual emotions as his intelligence increases. I don’t see this book on a level with Gender Queer.
There is no reason to allow LGBTQ propaganda into classrooms.
The mission of our schools should be to teach and to uplift. Many of these books seem to me to be grooming young people who may, especially in today’s world, think it’s cool to be gay or trans. I think that’s mostly what the book debate is all about – whether the schools should cater to a certain agenda that, by biological standards, is not normal.
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My disclaimer here is that if you are gay or want to be gay or have yourself surgically mutilated, and you are of age – do as you please. I have no interest in stopping you or telling you how to live your life. My point here – and Dan Patrick’s, if I read him correctly – is that public schools are not the place to teach or encourage homosexuality.
There is a reason that copies of Hustler magazine used to be in paper bags in newsstands so that young people would not be exposed to the covers. Porn is highly addictive and often leads to places no one should go. But in America, we seem to be expanding things that for most of human existence were considered bad: homosexuality, drug use, and gambling are prime examples.
I don’t think any of these three things ought to be encouraged in our public schools.
Lynn Woolley is a Texas-based author, broadcaster, and songwriter. Follow his podcast at https://www.PlanetLogic.us. Check out his author’s page at https://www.Amazon.com/author/lynnwoolley.
Order books direct from Lynn at https://PlanetLogicPress.Square.Site. Email Lynn at lwoolley9189@gmail.com.
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