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"...the library-friendly measures are being outpaced by bills in mostly red states that aim to restrict which books libraries can offer and threaten librarians with prison or thousands in fines for handing out “obscene” or “harmful” titles. At least 27 states are considering 100 such bills this year, three of which have become law, The Post found. That adds to nearly a dozen similar measures enacted over the last three years across 10 states. Lawmakers proposing restrictive bills contend they are necessary because school and public libraries contain graphic sexual material that should not be available to children. Some books’ “sole purpose is sexual gratification,” said West Virginia Del. Brandon Steele (R), who introduced a bill that would allow librarians to be prosecuted for giving obscene titles to minors. “It is strictly about pornography,” Steele said. “On that limited basis, this isn’t going to have the chilling effect people think it’s going to.”
But other lawmakers say bills like Steele’s are ideologically driven censorship dressed up as concern for children. They note that, as book challenges spiked to historic highs over the past two years, the majority of objections targeted books by and about LGBTQ people and people of color. ...“If we’re not turning people away from the door based on the color of their skin or the fact they’re wearing a rainbow pride flag, we should not be taking their books off the shelf,” said Chrastka of EveryLibrary. His organization developed sample language for this sort of law and has worked with lawmakers in roughly half a dozen states to introduce bills this year.
..the majority of the bills work the same way. They eliminate long-established exemptions from prosecution for librarians — sometimes teachers and museum employees, too — over obscene material. Almost every state adopted such carve-outs decades ago to ensure schools, museums and libraries could offer accurate information about topics such as sex education. Removing the exemption means librarians, teachers and museum staffers could face years of imprisonment or tens of thousands in fines for giving out books deemed sexually explicit, obscene or “harmful” to minors. For example, an Arkansas measure passed last year says school and public librarians can be imprisoned for up to six years or fined $10,000 if they hand out obscene or harmful titles."
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Laws threatening to send librarians are awfully extreme. This seems like a government attack on the freedom of speech.
They are almost surely a product motivated by a right-wing desire to attack public institutions like libraries and schools and a Christian Nationalists' desire to impose a racist, patriarchal world view on the country.
But other lawmakers say bills like Steele’s are ideologically driven censorship dressed up as concern for children. They note that, as book challenges spiked to historic highs over the past two years, the majority of objections targeted books by and about LGBTQ people and people of color. ...“If we’re not turning people away from the door based on the color of their skin or the fact they’re wearing a rainbow pride flag, we should not be taking their books off the shelf,” said Chrastka of EveryLibrary. His organization developed sample language for this sort of law and has worked with lawmakers in roughly half a dozen states to introduce bills this year.
..the majority of the bills work the same way. They eliminate long-established exemptions from prosecution for librarians — sometimes teachers and museum employees, too — over obscene material. Almost every state adopted such carve-outs decades ago to ensure schools, museums and libraries could offer accurate information about topics such as sex education. Removing the exemption means librarians, teachers and museum staffers could face years of imprisonment or tens of thousands in fines for giving out books deemed sexually explicit, obscene or “harmful” to minors. For example, an Arkansas measure passed last year says school and public librarians can be imprisoned for up to six years or fined $10,000 if they hand out obscene or harmful titles."
Link
Laws threatening to send librarians are awfully extreme. This seems like a government attack on the freedom of speech.
They are almost surely a product motivated by a right-wing desire to attack public institutions like libraries and schools and a Christian Nationalists' desire to impose a racist, patriarchal world view on the country.
