An Illinois Republican congresswoman has introduced legislation to ban nude strippers from performing in schools, despite no evidence that such events have occurred. Representative Mary Miller introduced H.R. 7661, known as the Stop the Sexualization of Children Act. The bill would amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to prohibit federal funding for programs exposing minors to sexually oriented material, including nude adults, individuals who are stripping, or lewd or lascivious dancing.
There are no documented cases of schools hiring strippers for students. Past incidents involved pranks initiated by students, including a 2016 Iowa banquet and a 2018 Texas case where a performer left after realizing she had been sent to a school. The bill also defines banned material as including content related to gender dysphoria or transgenderism. Again, not citing any examples of strippers performing in schools, Miller said she introduced the bill after reports of frequently-banned queer books were made available in school libraries.
Miller told The Daily Signal, “Parents deserve complete confidence that their tax dollars are being used to promote academic excellence – not to expose children to harmful and explicit material that undermines their innocence.” As this debate continues, the community advocates ask – Should lawmakers focus on documented issues in schools or perceived ones?
