Texas Schools Ban Lesson Over Exposed Nipple on Virginia Flag 

Some Texas elementary schoolers can no longer learn about Virginia’s history because of a … boob. 

The Lamar Consolidated Independent School District (LCISD) outside Houston removed a lesson on Virginia history from an online learning platform used by third to fifth graders due to the presence of a singular exposed breast on Virginia’s official flag, as first reported by Axios. 

The state flag depicts the toga-wearing Roman goddess Virtus with one exposed breast, which LSCID leaders deemed violated policy prohibiting “frontal nudity” in elementary school materials, according to information reviewed by Hyperallergic. The lesson’s removal has sparked concern among civil rights and First Amendment organizations over a growing mandate for Texas schools to ban certain educational materials from libraries.

“Nudity on a state flag is an absurd justification to censor a history lesson,” American Civil Liberties Union of Texas Staff Attorney Chloe Kempf told Hyperallergic. “Texans are enduring attacks on our freedom to read at every level of government — from school boards, to the State House, to the White House.” 

The incident recalls the controversial ousting of a Florida elementary school principal in 2023 after an art teacher showed an image of Michelangelo’s famous nude sculpture “David” (1501–4) to 11- and 12-year-olds.

Hosted by the learning platform PebbleGo Next, the Virginia lesson included a module about the State Seal, adopted in 1776 at the state’s Constitutional Convention. The article explains that the seal depicts the Roman goddess Virtus stepping on a supine tyrant above the state motto “Sic Semper Tyrannis (Thus Always to Tyrants).”

In Virtus’s home state, the “appropriateness” of the flag, which didn’t feature the goddess’s nipple until 1901, has also been tested by school boards and local politicians. 

PebbleGo provides interactive nonfiction lessons in the form of articles, videos, and maps for the nearly 11,000 third through fifth graders in the district, according to LCISD’s website. To access the learning platform, students obtain a username and password through a campus librarian. 

Anne Russey, co-founder of the Texas Freedom to Read Project, told Hyperallergic in an email that her organization submitted a public information request on April 7 to the LSCID asking if any articles on the platform had been “turned off” for students. 

LCISD responded to the request on April 14, stating the district not only shut down a module on Virginia history on November 25 due to “frontal nudity,” but it also deleted a lesson on “Family Types” because the lesson violated a district-wide ban on materials related to “gender fluidity.” 

According to the Texas Freedom to Read Project, the school district amended its library materials guidelines days before the lesson was canceled to include a policy banning “visual depictions or illustrations of frontal nudity.” The updated policy was issued to comply with a controversial law that has been used to justify book bans, the organization said. 

That law, the Restricting Explicit and Adult-Designated Educational Resources (READER) Act, also known as HB 900, prohibits Texas public school libraries from acquiring or maintaining “obscene” and “pervasively vulgar” materials. Critics of the law, enacted in September 2023, however, say the categories of banned content included in the law are too broad and could particularly affect books addressing LGBTQ+ topics and discussions on race and racism.

“The sweeping and vague restrictions in bills like HB 900 can lead to government officials censoring books and ideas they don’t like,” Kempf told Hyperallergic. “This is an abuse of power that violates our constitutional rights and weakens our ability to learn about ourselves and the world around us.”

Individual school districts are taking it even further, Russey told Hyperallergic. In attempting to adhere to HB 900, LCISD has not only complied with the controversial law but has adopted even stricter guidelines. 

In one extreme case last year, a Texas school district serving 11,000 students recalled the entire text of the Bible in an attempt to comply with HB 900. It was quickly reinstated after the district received “clarification” from Republican Texas Representative Jared Patterson, who sponsored the bill. 

“Banning the Virginia state flag is likely not the intent of any lawmakers or local school board trustees, but this is the reality we find ourselves in,” Russey said. “Texas parents who oppose book bans and censorship must speak up when they see problematic local policies and state laws, and advocate for reasonable, individual parent and student rights — not more government overreach and control.”