ABOVE: Library photo via American Library Association’s Facebook page.
The American Library Association released a statement Nov. 30 noting that the organization has documented 155 separate incidents of efforts to remove or ban books that focus on LGBTQ+ issues and books by Black authors or that document the Black experience or the experiences of other BIPOC individuals.
Since June 1, 2021, OIF has tracked 155 unique censorship incidents and provided direct support and consultation in 120 of those cases.
“In recent months, a few organizations have advanced the proposition that the voices of the marginalized have no place on library shelves,” the ALA shared. “To this end, they have launched campaigns demanding the censorship of books and resources that mirror the lives of those who are gay, queer, or transgender or that tell the stories of persons who are Black, Indigenous, or persons of color.
“Falsely claiming that these works are subversive, immoral, or worse, these groups induce elected and non-elected officials to abandon constitutional principles, ignore the rule of law, and disregard individual rights to promote government censorship of library collections,” it continues. “Some of these groups even resort to intimidation and threats to achieve their ends, targeting the safety and livelihoods of library workers, educators, and board members who have dedicated themselves to public service, informing our communities, and educating our youth.”
It also notes:
ALA strongly condemns these acts of censorship and intimidation.We are committed to defending the constitutional rights of all individuals of all ages to use the resources and services of libraries. We champion and defend the freedom to speak, the freedom to publish, and the freedom to read, as promised by the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.
We stand opposed to censorship and any effort to coerce belief, suppress opinion, or punish those whose expression does not conform to what is deemed orthodox in history, politics, or belief. The unfettered exchange of ideas is essential to the preservation of a free and democratic society.
The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) is actively involved in providing confidential legal guidance and strategic support to libraries and library professionals in communities across the country impacted by the recent surge in book challenges.
“We’re seeing an unprecedented volume of challenges in the fall of 2021,” said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, OIF Director. “In my twenty years with ALA, I can’t recall a time when we had multiple challenges coming in on a daily basis.”
The Williamson County, TN chapter of the group Moms for Liberty had filed an 11-page complaint with the state, claiming that the “classroom books and teacher manuals reveal both explicit and implicit Anti-American, Anti-White, and Anti-Mexican teaching,” as The Tennessean reports.
In South Carolina, Governor Henry McMaster sent a letter to South Carolina Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman asking her to “begin a comprehensive investigation into the presence of obscene and pornographic materials in public schools in South Carolina.”
A Flagler County, Florida, school board member is seeking criminal charges against school officials for allowing copies of the LGBTQ+ themed book “All Boys Aren’t Blue” to remain in two of the county high school’s libraries.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott sent a letter directing the Texas Education Agency, the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, and the State Board of Education to immediately develop statewide standards to restrict access to certain content in public schools, but highlighted as examples books by LGBTQ authors that tell the stories and explore the identities of LGBTQ people.
In Spotsylvania County, Virginia, the County School Board voted 5-2 to rescind their ban on “sexually explicit” books in the libraries of the district’s schools that the board enacted last week in a 6-0 vote.
The original directive came last week after two parents raised concerns at a board meeting about books available to students, particularly LGBTQ+ fiction.
A recent article in Raw Story details some of the book ban efforts by Moms for Liberty, a far-right so-called ‘family values’ group founded in January 2021in Florida, which claims to be a ‘grassroots’ non-profit organization that advocates for parental rights.
Headquartered in Melbourne, Florida, the group which has 142 chapters in 35 states and 56,000 members and supporters, has campaigned against COVID-19 restrictions in schools, including mask and vaccine mandates, and against school curriculums that mention LGBT rights, race, and discrimination.
Raw Story also reported that “among their demands are that lessons about Martin Luther King, Jr. and Ruby Bridges be cut for being divisive, lessons about civil rights crackdowns be cut for “negative views of firemen and police,” and lessons about Galileo be revised for being too anti-church. The story of Johnny Appleseed was also condemned as “sad and dark,” Greek and Roman mythology for depicting the goddess Venus naked, and textbooks explaining the effects of hurricanes as too violent for first graders. But one of the oddest crusades of the group is against a children’s picture book on seahorses, which they believe, according to Weill, ‘is too sexy.'”
Established Dec. 1, 1967, the OIF is charged with implementing ALA policies concerning the concept of intellectual freedom as embodied in the Library Bill of Rights, the association’s basic policy on free access to libraries and library materials. The goal of the office is to educate librarians and the general public about the nature and importance of intellectual freedom in libraries.
