Austin News

Texas Republican gubernatorial candidate Don Huffines recently voiced his opinion on the issue of LGBTQ+ books in schools.

Parents across the country and across Texas are going to school board meetings to express concern about what they are calling sexually explicit and age-inappropriate books in school libraries. According to Texas Scorecard, a parent in Leander Independent School District, near Austin, stated that their 11-year-old student had brought home a book from school titled "Queerfully and Wonderfully Made." The parent read an excerpt from the book: "How do queer people even have sex? Can I look at porn? OK, but I’m serious. Help, I’m really horny." 

A parent in Round Rock ISD expressed concern over the presence of books such as "Lawn Boy" and "Gender Queer" in school libraries. Those books describe and depict sexual acts, including oral sex and molestation.

"I am disgusted and infuriated that Texas schools are promoting sexually explicit materials, full of far-left gender theory, to small children," Huffines said. "Our children are in danger, but Greg Abbott refuses to act. As governor, I will immediately work to ban sexually explicit materials from schools — we must defend Texas children from the predatory leftist agenda."

"Gender Queer" by Maia Kobabe has sparked debates across the country, according to Texas Tribune. Kobabe is nonbinary and uses the pronouns e/em/eir. The book includes illustrations of activities such as oral sex.

An official State of Texas website that offered resources to LGBTQ+ youth was removed in October 2021 after Huffines criticized it on Twitter, The New York Times reported. A spokesman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services told the New York Times that it was removed for review, but the paper noted that emails show officials were concerned about Huffines' comments.

Huffines read from the website's pages in a video posted on Twitter.

"Empower and celebrate lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual, ally, non-heterosexual behavior," Huffines said in the video. "Really? This is Texas. These are not Texas values. But these are obviously Greg Abbott’s values."

Don Huffines is the CEO of Huffines Communities, a Dallas/Fort Worth-based real estate development firm. From 2015 to 2019 Huffines served in the Texas Senate, representing the people of Texas' 16th senate district.

Huffines joins a crowded field, along with former Florida Congressman and Texas GOP Chairman Allen West and media personality Chad Prather, challenging Abbott in the Mar. 1 GOP gubernatorial primary, according to Ballotpedia.

Former El Paso City Council member and U.S. Congressman Robert Francis "Beto" O'Rourke leads the Democratic field for nomination to run for governor. O'Rourke previously mounted two unsuccessful campaigns for U.S. Senate and president of the United States. 

Elected in 2014, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is currently serving as the 48th governor of Texas. Before that, Abbott was the longest-serving attorney general of Texas.