Latest news with #TexasFreedomtoReadProject
The Guardian
18-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
What a boob: Texas bans Virginia state flag and seal over naked breast
Virginia's state flag and seal, depicting the Roman goddess Virtus standing over a slain tyrant, her drooping toga exposing her left breast, has been banned from younger students in a Texas school district. The district, Lamar consolidated independent school district, near Houston, took action against the image late last year when it removed a section about Virginia from its online learning platform used by third through fifth graders, typically encompassing ages eight to 11, sparking a row, Axios reported on Thursday. The Texas Freedom to Read Project, a group that opposes censorship and book bans in the state, said it had 'unlocked a new level of dystopian, book-banning, and censorship hell in Texas' when it discovered that students in Lamar can no longer learn about the state of Virginia on their online research database, PebbleGo Next. The group said that after it filed a public records request, the school district acknowledged that 'Virginia' had been removed from the website due to the lesson violating the school board's local library policy banning any 'visual depictions or illustrations of frontal nudity' in elementary school library material. The commonwealth of Virginia's flag is periodically thrust into the national spotlight, and in 2010 was part a debate about what constitutes sexually explicit material in the state's school libraries. Then-state attorney general Ken Cuccinelli created special lapel pins that edited the seal to cover the breast. Battles over Virginia's seal and flag date back to 1776 when the commonwealth wanted to appear strong during the war of independence over British rule and hit on the image of Virtus, wielding a sword and spear, and the inscription 'Sic Semper Tyrannis' or 'Thus always to tyrants', next to a body and fallen crown. At that time, the tyrant was taken as a symbol of England's King George III, and Virtus more like a warrior in the Ottoman empire than a Roman deity. Over the years, the image was adapted in various ways. In 1901, Virginia officials ordered that the depiction of the bared breast be included to show clearly that the figure of Virtus was female. Sign up to Headlines US Get the most important US headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion In the 2010 row, there were debates over Virtus's nipple and the University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato mocked conservatives over censorship efforts, saying: 'When you ask to be ridiculed, it usually happens. And it will happen here, nationally. This is classical art, for goodness's sake.'
Russia Today
18-04-2025
- General
- Russia Today
State flag banned over Roman goddess' bare breast
A US school district has removed an online civics lesson about Virginia and its state flag due to rules against frontal nudity, Axios has reported. The Virginia official flag features the state seal, which depicts the Roman goddess Virtus standing over a defeated tyrant. In line with classical imagery, Virtus is partially draped, with one breast exposed. According to Axios report on Friday, the Lamar Consolidated Independent School District (CISD), located outside Houston, Texas, has removed the Virginia lesson from an online platform used by elementary students in grades three to five. The district confirmed the move in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Texas Freedom to Read Project. The group's co-director, Anne Russey, said the district cited its newly adopted policy banning 'visual depictions or illustrations of frontal nudity' in elementary school library materials. The removed content was part of PebbleGo Next, an educational website used by schools across the US, including some in Virginia. Virginia's original 1776 state seal portrayed the Roman goddess Virtus clad in toga and a full breastplate. The imagery was adopted for the state flag in 1861, when the legislature placed the seal on a blue field to formalize it as Virginia's official emblem. In 1901, however, a redesign introduced the bare-breasted figure after the secretary of the commonwealth criticized the earlier version for lacking 'artistic grace and beauty' and appearing too masculine. The current design, finalized in 1931, shows Virtus in a helmet, holding a spear and sword above a fallen tyrant, with the state's Latin motto that reads Sic Semper Tyrannis – 'Thus Always to Tyrants.' The Texas Freedom to Read Project, which advocates against book bans and censorship, criticized the flag's removal and the law behind it. On its website, the group described state policies as 'vague and confusing.' 'Today, it's the Virginia state flag. Tomorrow will it be books that contain historical photos…' the group said. Texas passed House Bill 900 in 2023, aimed at keeping sexually explicit content off of school bookshelves. State Senator Angela Paxton said last month that children should not be exposed to 'inappropriate, harmful material,' adding that 'young brains cannot unsee what they see.'
Axios
17-04-2025
- General
- Axios
Virginia flag banned in Texas district over exposed breast
Virginia's bare-breasted state flag, and a lesson about the Commonwealth of Virginia, has been banned for some students in a Texas school district. The big picture: Lamar CISD, a school district around 30 minutes from Houston, last fall removed a section about Virginia from its online learning platform used by 3rd-5th graders, Texas Freedom to Read Project co-director Anne Russey tells Axios. The reason: The bare breast on Virginia's flag, a picture of which was included in the lesson, violated the district's recently adopted ban on any "visual depictions or illustrations of frontal nudity" in elementary school library material. That's according to what the Lamar district confirmed to Russey in a Freedom of Information Act request. The district did not respond to Axios' request for more information. Zoom out: The Texas district, like some in Virginia, uses the educational website PebbleGo Next as one of its online learning platforms for elementary-age students, per the district's website.
