The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), through our publishing imprints Skinner House Books and Beacon Press, are a part of the Massachusetts Freedom to Read Coalition, which is advocating to limit book bans in the Commonwealth. Recently, UUA staff members Larisa Hohenboken and Mary Benard participated in an advocacy day at the Massachusetts State House in support of legislation that will help the state maintain the free exchange of ideas. In Good Faith asked Larisa to share their experience – we appreciate their insights and their work on this critically important issue.

March 10, 2026 was an unusually warm day in Boston. The temperature was well on its way to 70 degrees when I arrived at the Massachusetts State House that morning with two big bags of political signs.

I was there to help the Mass Freedom to Read Coalition advocate for a state-level freedom to read bill, “An Act Regarding Free Expression.” So I met up with my boss, UUA Publications Director Mary Benard, and we each shouldered a bag of signs and headed in.

The Mass Freedom to Read Coalition is a group of authors, publishers, booksellers, and librarians advocating for freedom of expression in the state. Both Beacon Press and Skinner House Books are members, and people from all its constituent organizations and other allied groups were convening for a day of legislative advocacy, book fairs, and a press conference to encourage the state legislature to move the bill out of committee on the House side and into law.

As many of you know, the freedom to read is currently under attack at both the federal and local levels. Books about LGBTQ+ people, people of color, and the history of racism and slavery in the United States have been most heavily targeted, along with sexual education resources. These bans limit access to crucial information that helps people, especially young people, better understand themselves and others.

So far, 13 states have passed laws enshrining the right to read. Massachusetts is not yet on that list: the bill passed in the state Senate last fall, but it has still not been voted on in the House, where it’s been stuck in the Ways and Means committee for several months.

That day, Mary and I would be joining Nora Blake from the Massachusetts Library Association to meet with legislators and their staff about the bill. But first, we entered into a room humming with preparation: room 437, the site of our book fair. Authors, publishers, and organizers were setting up tables and putting on Mass Freedom to Read pins or Authors Against Book Bans hats. Mary and I busied ourselves displaying signs everywhere we could think of. Then, after a brief training on how to meet with legislators, we broke into our teams and headed to their offices.

The Massachusetts State House is an impressive but labyrinthine building. It’s full of marble staircases and high atria that require you to go up and down floors to get from one side of the building to another. But thankfully Nora had done other legislative advocacy there before and was able to take the lead in our first few meetings—and help us not get lost!

The meetings were fairly brief: introducing ourselves to staffers, telling them about the bill, and asking the legislator to prioritize it in their work, such as by bringing it up with the chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Aaron Michlewitz. The staffers were welcoming and interested, and we got to see some of the many ways state legislators decorate their offices: with Boston street signs, Pride flags, and posters and photos from previous projects.

At midday the advocacy meetings paused for a press conference back in room 437, and I returned to a room packed with visitors, organizers, and press. Watching it was an emotional experience—funny when state senators ribbed their House colleagues to get a move on; intense when speakers like author Malinda Lo and the head of Greater Boston PFLAG, Nina Selveggio, highlighted the grim realities of book censorship, like librarians having their jobs and personal safety threatened and the time the police were called to remove books from a Western Mass middle school. Local high school sophomore and 826 Boston member Camila Guerrero’s speech was particularly moving: “When adults debate book bans, they often frame the conversation around protecting us—protecting students. But I want to ask a simple question: have you asked us what we actually need?”

Looking around the room, my heart lifted seeing how many people had come together to make this day happen. It’s not the end of our work—we still need to keep pushing the state House to vote on the bill. But it was a stirring reminder that together we can do big things.

It was also a meaningful expression of Unitarian Universalist values. Protecting the right to access information helps people engage in the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. And not being allowed to tell your story because of the marginalizations you hold is an infringement on the inherent worthiness and dignity of every person.

All people deserve to tell their stories, and all people should be able to read and learn from them.

For more on the fight against book bans, I recommend the documentary The Librarians, which is available through PBS. Kelly Jensen’s book censorship column at Book Riot also gives state-by-state updates on book challenges and legislation.

For readers in Massachusetts, you can sign up for the Mass Freedom to Read newsletter at this link. We also have directions for writing postcards to your state House representatives at the Mass Freedom to Read page, or you can email them here at this link. The more locally you act, the more your actions can make a difference. Join us!