A powerful Texas state legislator has launched an "investigation" into public school library books dealing with sexuality and race.

State Rep. Matt Krause, chair of the House Committee on General Investigating, notified the Texas Education Agency that he is "initiating an inquiry into Texas school district content," according to an October 25 letter obtained by the Texas Tribune.

Krause's letter provides a 16-page list of some 850 book titles, and asks local school districts if they have these books, how many copies they have, and how much money they spent on the books.

Many of the books on this list appear to be about or by LGBTQ people. Others were about race or the history of race relations in the US.

Krause said he was targeting books that "make students feel discomfort."

Among the books Krause listed are the 1967 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron, Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women that a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall, and Isabel Wilkerson's Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.

Also included are LGBT Families by Leanne K. Currie-McGhee, The Letter Q: Queer Writers' Notes to their Younger Selves edited by Sarah Moon, and Michael J. Basso's The Underground Guide to Teenage Sexuality: An Essential Handbook for Today's Teens and Parents.

In a statement, Texas State Teachers Association President Ovidia Molina called the request a "political overreach into the classroom."�

"Nothing in state law," the teachers' statement continued, "gives a legislator the authority to conduct this type of witch hunt.

"This is an obvious attack on diversity and an attempt to score political points at the expense of our children's education. What will Rep. Krause propose next? Burning books he and a handful of parents find objectionable?"

Krause is a graduate of Jerry Falwell—founded Liberty University and worked as a lawyer for the anti-LGBTQ hate group Liberty Counsel. He recently announced that he will challenge ultra-right-wing incumbent Ken Paxton for Texas attorney general.

Krause declined to comment on his inquiry.