The Alabama Public Library Service Board of Directors is considering a proposed rule change that expands the existing requirement for youth sections to be free of “material deemed inappropriate for children.” The new proposal said that includes any material that “positively depicts transgender procedures, gender ideology, or the concept of more than two biological genders.”
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The Alabama proposal is the latest salvo in the national fight over library content. The state board on Tuesday (Oct. 21) held a lengthy and sometimes heated and emotional public hearing ahead of next month’s expected vote.
Opponents called the proposal blatantly discriminatory and an attempt to impose one viewpoint on all Alabamians at the expense of trans youth and their families.
“These changes do not protect children — they police ideas,” said Matthew Layne, a past president of the Alabama Library Association.
Supporters of the proposal said parents who want their children to read the books can get them in other places.
“Removing trans books is not book-banning,” Julia Cleland, a member of the group Eagle Forum, told the board. Cleland said she would prefer the books be removed entirely from public libraries, not just youth sections.
John Wahl, the chairman of the library board, said he expects the board to approve the rule change, or an amended version of it, when they meet next month. He said libraries could stock the materials in adult sections where parents could access them for their children.
“We want parents to be confident that the children’s sections of Alabama libraries are age appropriate, that their children are not going to stumble against sexually explicit content,” Wahl said. Wahl is also chair of the Alabama Republican Party.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Kim Chandler and published by Alabama Daily News.
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