Warning: This article contains a book excerpt with graphic sexual descriptions.
In response to parents objecting to the state-sponsored sexualization of our children in public schools, the American Library Association (ALA) is hosting “Banned Books Week” from Oct. 1-7. The event is likely meant to distract Americans from an unfortunate reality: The taxpayer-funded ALA is trying to place pornographic books in the hands of children, while it tries to ban books and story hours with patriotic themes.
Few are soon to forget story hour with Sen. John Kennedy, R-La. On Sept. 12, during the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing titled “Book Bans: Examining How Censorship Limits Liberty and Literature,” Kennedy read excerpts from books currently in middle-school libraries across the country. From the pornographic book containing graphic pictures, Gender Queer, the 71-year-old read, “I can’t wait to have your c-ck in my mouth. I’m going to give you the blowjob of your life. Then I want you inside of me.”
Kennedy’s display made an incisive point: Books like Gender Queer and All Boys Aren’t Blue meet the legal definition of pornography, and they do not belong in K-12 public school libraries. Even Maia Kobabe, the author of Gender Queer, agrees. She said, “I don’t recommend this book for kids.”
Others feel that 11-year-olds in middle school need access to these books to feel seen. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., for example, stated, “Every student deserves access to books that reflect their experiences and help them better understand who they are.” It is unclear the children to whom the senator is referring, but if these passages reflect their experiences, they are victims in need of serious help.
Other leftist activists criticized the senator for reading the explicit books. A witness in favor of the books argued that the passages were “disturbing — especially coming out of your mouth.” To some, the issue is that an adult would dare read this pornographic material publicly, not that it is available to our children in their public schools.
Shooting the Messenger
Similarly, in Fairfax County, Virginia, Harry Jackson, a Republican-endorsed school board candidate, sent a mailer to constituents in his district that contained graphic pictures and passages from books currently available in public middle schools in Fairfax County. A local news channel, NBC4, reported on the mailer.
Rather than addressing the true problem, that these books are available to young children, the story angle was to focus on the appropriateness of the candidate’s decision to alert voters of these explicit materials with a mailer. Journalists reached out to his opponent, the incumbent and Democrat-endorsed Melanie Meren, who offered a nonsensical politician’s quote about “respectful and thoughtful conversations.” NBC4 failed to report that Meren voted to keep books like Gender Queer in the district’s middle-school libraries and that she ignored Jackson’s public debate challenge, thereby negating her interest in “thoughtful conversations.” Leftist activists and journalists clearly favor tribalism over logic and objective reporting.
ALA Celebrates Pornographic Books and Socialism with ‘Banned Books Week’
Emily Drabinski, the self-proclaimed Marxist president of the ALA, illogically complains about the injustice of banning explicit materials, while simultaneously advocating for banning story hours on faith, family, and patriotism. In response to Kirk Cameron organizing nationwide library events, Drabinski provided tips in a presentation for librarians about how to thwart these story hours. She advised the librarians, “You can limit access to meeting rooms to persons eligible to hold a library card in your community. You could make a priority for library-sponsored programs.”
While using the ALA’s $250 million budget to restrict conservatives’ free speech, Drabinski also utilizes her resources to promote pornography in middle school libraries. Librarians should be focused on helping hesitant readers, particularly considering learning loss from prolonged school closures, but it would seem the ALA leadership prioritizes other endeavors. Not only does Drabinski support books like Gender Queer in public libraries for children, she hosts conferences to brainstorm how to get more of those types of books in the hands of more children. The ALA’s June 2023 conference included a session titled, “Beyond the Middle School Rainbow: Intersectionality in LGBTQIA+ Middle Grade Books.”
On Sept. 2, despite the multi-state withdrawal from the ALA, Drabinski doubled down on her position, and claimed that American libraries should be places for socialist activism. At a conference panel titled, “Freedom To Learn: Black and Asian American Solidarity Against Attacks on Antiracist Education,” after being publicly referred to as “comrade,” Drabinski said,“I think your point that public education needs to be a site of socialist organizing, I think libraries really do too. … I think we need to be on the agenda for socialist organizing.”
Likely to that end, the ALA is currently hosting its fraudulent “Banned Books Week.” In support of its misleading event, the website reads: “When we ban books, we’re closing off readers to people, places, and perspectives. But when we stand up for stories, we unleash the power that lies inside every book. We liberate the array of voices that need to be heard and the scenes that need to be seen. Let freedom read!”
The website further addresses the issue of political polarization. It makes me wonder: Will they include Kirk Cameron’s and other conservatives’ books in their displays? Of course they won’t.
There are two grand ironies in the “explicit materials in schools” debate. The left is trying to gaslight us into believing we are only imagining that pornography is in our children’s public school libraries — that only white supremacists and homophobes take issue with any book. When we bring proof and alert others to the pornographic materials, like Kennedy and Jackson did, these leftist activists suggest we are inappropriate and disturbing. Secondly, the ALA hosts a “Banned Books Week” to celebrate so-called “free expression” in material that is extremely inappropriate and technically illegal for children, while concurrently trying to ban books and story hours for children on themes of patriotism, faith, and family.
The ALA is clearly not the “nonpartisan, nonprofit organization” it describes itself to be. Partisan, socialist, pornography-peddling associations should not be funded with taxpayer dollars.
Stephanie Lundquist-Arora is a mother in Fairfax County, Virginia, an author, and a member of
the Independent Women’s Network.
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