Tag: American Library Association

Cobb County School District Superintendent Chris Ragsdale Announces Removal of Inappropriate Books from Media Centers

Debra McClure
Chris Ragsdale

Cobb County School District (CCSD) Superintendent Chris Ragsdale announced the removal of four books containing “lewd, “vulgar,” and “sexually explicit” content from school media centers in a Board of Education meeting Thursday night.

“Tonight, I am announcing that four additional books are being removed after having gone through our very thorough district process: ‘It Ends with Us,’ ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower,’ ‘Lucky,’ and ‘Thirteen Reasons Why.’ The review found all four of these books to contain lewd, vulgar, and sexually explicit and graphic content inappropriate for a public school,” Superintendent Ragsdale said during the meeting.

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Memo Reveals How Teachers Union Worked on Bill to Keep Sexually Explicit Books in Schools

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Democratic lawmakers privately negotiated with the nation’s largest teachers union to craft a bill intended to combat bans of sexually explicit books in schools, according to a letter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The Right To Read Act was reintroduced by Democratic Arizona Rep. Raúl Grijalva and Democratic Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed in April 2023, and is intended to rebuff efforts by parents and Republican lawmakers to remove sexually explicit content from school libraries, according to a press release from the lawmakers. The bill also authorized $500 million in funding for school libraries and provides liability protections to school librarians and educators providing sexually explicit books to students.

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American Library Association Helped Draft Bill Cracking Down on Limits the the Availability of Sexually Explicit Books to Children

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The former president of the American Library Association (ALA) said the organization helped “develop” legislation intended to combat attempts to remove sexually explicit books from school libraries, according to documents obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

The Right To Read Act, reintroduced by Democratic Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed and Democratic Arizona Rep. Raúl Grijalva in April, ensures students can access “culturally diverse and inclusive materials,” including sexually explicit books, as well as granting liability protections for librarians who curate these materials. The bill is explicitly intended to rebuff efforts by parents and Republican lawmakers to remove sexually explicit content from school libraries, according to a press release from the lawmakers.

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Parents Protest ‘Pornographic’ Books at Arizona Public Library Meeting

Rachel Alexander

Several parents and children attended a meeting of the Chandler Public Library Board Tuesday night to protest “pornographic” books geared to children located in the children’s section of the Basha branch library. The board, which met at that branch, let each attendee speak for two minutes, who used their time to read from the offending books and describe what was contained in them. 

A young woman named Audrey, who said she was the 2021 class president of the adjacent high school, read from a book for 10-year olds that discussed masturbation and abortion. A book about “genderqueer” discussed “strap-ons” and “blow jobs,” she said.

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Openly ‘Marxist’ Library Group Chief Stunned by Backlash, Withdrawal of Funding

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After the head of the American Library Association (ALA) declared herself to be an open “Marxist,” the group has faced severe backlash that has led to at least one state pulling its funding altogether.

As reported by Fox News, Emily Drabinski celebrated her own election as head of the ALA last year by tweeting “I just cannot believe that a Marxist lesbian who believes that collective power is possible to build and can be wielded for a better world is the president-elect of @ALALibrary. I am so excited for what we will do together. Solidarity! And my mom is SO PROUD. I love you mom.”

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State Freedom Caucus Calls on Arizona Library Association to Leave the American Library Association

Hannah Poling

The Arizona Freedom Caucus called on the Arizona Library Association to cut ties with the “woke, extremist” American Library Association (ALA).

The American Library Association is the world’s oldest and largest library association. The association states its strategic advocacy directions include literacy, diversity, and equity of access, information policy and intellectual freedom, and professional and leadership development.

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Library Group’s ‘Intellectual Freedom’ Director Tells Libraries How to Censor Christian Story Hours

Just the News

The American Library Association is offering guidance to public libraries on how to prevent events like an upcoming one by leading Christian children’s book publisher and marquee author Kirk Cameron, arguing they’re an attempt to “censor” or “silence” LGBTQIA library-users and their materials.

The guidance came from Deborah Caldwell-Stone, the association’s director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom, during a virtual library conference earlier this month.

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Massachusetts Public Libraries to Host Virtual Drag Queen Tutorial for Teens

Susan Berry, PhD

More than 30 Massachusetts public libraries are joining together to host a virtual drag queen event, targeted for teens aged 13-18, in which New England-based drag queen “Giganta Smalls” will teach the young people about the life of a drag performer and help them “pick up some advice on costuming and make-up.”

According to a Westhampton Public Library Facebook post for the June 10th event called “Dishing Out Drag with Giganta Smalls,” over 30 Massachusetts public libraries are “co-hosting this PRIDE event,” that has been “made possible by a discretionary fund of the Trustees of Rowley Public Library.”

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‘Gender Queer’ Tops List of Most Challenged Books for a Second Year

The Center Square

The graphic novel Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe was the most challenged book of 2022, according to an annual list of the most controversial books as assessed by the American Library Association.

The list was published Monday during the start of National Library Week. The American Library Association said 2022 was a record year for books “targeted for censorship.” There were 2,571 unique titles challenged, of which 58 percent were in school libraries, classroom libraries or school curricula.

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Wyoming Library Board Cuts Ties With American Library Association Over Support for Sexually Explicit Books for Children

Susan Berry, PhD

A Wyoming library board has cut its ties with the American Library Association (ALA) and its state affiliate over support of sexually explicit books in the children’s sections of local libraries that include indoctrination in gender ideology and other aspects of radical LGBTQ activism.

The Campbell County Library Board in Gillette, Wyoming, voted 4-1 to break ties with the ALA after months of parental outcry about the books, promoted by the national organization, that have been viewed as pornographic and an attempt to normalize a transgender lifestyle, The Epoch Times reported last week.

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Parents Report Ohio Middle School Invited ‘Non-Binary’ Youth Librarian to Explore 6th-Grade Students’ Gender

Susan Berry, PhD

Parents of middle school students in the Upper Arlington Schools in Ohio reported to Libs of TikTok that a “non-binary” youth librarian’s presentation to sixth-grade students involved asking them whether they might be of a different gender and whether they feel safe discussing these thoughts at home.

According to the report by Libs of TikTok, on October 13, the Grade 6 English Language Arts (ELA) teachers of Hastings Middle School partnered with the Upper Arlington Public Library (UAPL) to ask youth librarian Alexx Burris to make recommendations to students for books on the topic of “Coming of Age.”

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Michigan Parents of Different Faiths Organize to Protect Children from Radical Left Ideology in Government Schools

Susan Berry, PhD

More than 800 parents, including Christians, Muslims, and Jews, organized in Dearborn, Michigan, to fight back against the radical left’s sexualization of their children in government schools.

The parents’ goal is “simple,” reported Patty McMurray at 100PERCENTFedUP.com, a conservative site run by moms McMurray and Leisa Audette.

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Self-Described ‘Marxist Lesbian’ Elected Next President of American Library Association

Susan Berry, PhD

The same American Library Association (ALA) that promotes Drag Queen Story Hours for young children, and has bestowed awards on books containing explicit descriptions of sexual behavior for children as young as 12 years, has now elected a self-described “Marxist lesbian” as its next president.

Idaho native Emily Drabinski, interim chief librarian at The Graduate Center, City University of New York, posted to Twitter following her victorious election bid she “just cannot believe that a Marxist lesbian who believes that collective power is possible to build and can be wielded for a better world is the president-elect of” ALA.”

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Massachusetts Parent: ‘We’re Not Homophobic, They’re Trying to Take Parental Rights from Us, and That’s What We’re Fighting For’

Susan Berry, PhD

A Ludlow, Massachusetts mother says parents in her school district are committed to fighting for their parental rights to oversee what their children are being exposed to at school.

Bella Soares told The Star News Network she became involved in the parents’ battle with Ludlow Public Schools officials over the issue of school library books the parents believe to be inappropriate for their children.

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Tennessee House Subcommittee Advances Legislation to Protect Students from Obscenity and Pornography in K-12 Schools

Laura Baigert

At the end of meetings of the Tennessee House Criminal Justice Subcommittee held over two consecutive weeks where impassioned testimony was heard from nearly two dozen witnesses on both sides of the argument, a bill that seeks to protect students from pornographic and obscene materials in K-12 schools advanced Wednesday to the full House Criminal Justice Committee.

More than two hours of testimony was heard Wednesday from 15 members of the public, in addition to nearly an hour and three witnesses who testified last week including country music star John Rich, The Tennessee Star reported.

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Virginia Beach School Board Member Manning Challenges Four Books in School Library

Eric Burk

Virginia Beach School Board Member Victoria Manning has challenged four books in the district’s libraries over sexually explicit content.

“I’ve been accused of wanting to ban books, burn books, etc.,” she told The Virginia Star in an email. “However, I am NOT asking for a ban on these books. I’m simply asking for sexually explicit and pornographic materials to not be made available to minors through our schools. If adults want to purchase these books or borrow them from the library then that is their business and their right. At the very least, parents should be made aware in advance of sexually explicit material and be required to OPT-IN for their children to be able to be provided these materials.”

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