This is so much bad, I don’t know where to start.
The culture war inside America’s libraries is playing out yet again. This time, it has hit Alabama where conservative activists are demanding the removal of LGBTQ+ inclusive books and other ‘controversial’ materials, and falsely accusing librarians of pushing porn.
There’s the twin errosion of freedom of speech and access to information.
It also pushes for libraries to withdraw as members of the American Library Association (ALA), which it believes uses its “influence to push leftist progressive values” on “traditional communities”.
The ability to freely associate with others is a core civil liberty. This kind of pressure to pull out of associating with other libraries is as dangerous as eroding free speech. > To accomplish these goals, Clean Up Alabama wants to ensure that libraries are no longer exempt from the state's Anti-Obscenity Enforcement Act, according to an email sent to the group's newsletter subscribers, the Alabama Political Reporter reported.
This eliminates safe places in which we can learn. > Clean Up Alabama is keen to add LGBTQ+ content to the state's legal definition of “sexual content”, according to the Alabama Political Reporter. The outlet reported this would have a trickle-down effect as it would bring queer books under the definition of content “harmful to minors” in Alabama.
So the idea that this alone makes for sexual content is wrong. But then what else could packaged under this? Reproductive health, certainly. How about intimate partner violence? Sexual assault.
And that this is happening in a state where the senator is holding military promotions hostage in an effort to change the militaries policy on abortion is completely unsurprising and may be signs of a lot of coordination.
Quoted text from PinkNews