Court: Lawsuit Can Continue Against Library That Moved All LGBTQ Children’s Books To The Adult Section
Court: Lawsuit Can Continue Against Library That Moved All LGBTQ Children’s Books To The Adult Section
The First Amendment doesn’t just protect what you say. It also protects your right to hear what others say. It guarantees a right to published information. It protects a whole lot of stuff ce…
A lawsuit, filed by patrons of a county library in Arkansas, has been allowed to move forward by a federal court. The First Amendment lawsuit plausibly alleges the library’s decision to move anything determined to be “LGBTQ” from the children’s section to the adult’s section violates the First Amendment right to equitable access to information. (via Courthouse News Service)
Here’s how this started, according to the decision [PDF] that moves this lawsuit forward:
[I]n late 2022 or early 2023 the Crawford County Library System implemented a policy under which its library branches must remove from their children’s sections all books containing LGBTQ themes, affix a prominent color label to those books, and place them in a newly-created section called the “social section.” Plaintiffs allege this policy was imposed on the Library System by the Crawford County Quorum Court in response to political pressure from constituents who objected, at least partly on religious grounds, to the presence of these books in the children’s section.
The major benefit that lemmy has over reddit is that the moderators here don't broker bigots' shit.
I don't think kids need to be reading about advanced sexual theory.
Try to avoid regurgitating the fox news talking points. It makes you sound like a bigoted moron.
"Kids" generally don't need to read a deep psychological investigation of human sexuality. But they can and should have access to stories involving LGBTQ characters and themes. Because learning acceptance for others (and maybe even themselves) from an early age is how you get kids who aren't stupid chuds who are just waiting for a chance to say what they heard tucker carlson say last night.
So yeah. My sympathies for the library who was just trying to not get fire bombed. But... fuck that noise. The acknowledgement that not everyone in the world is cishet does not instantly turn a story about a bunny rabbit into an "adult" book.
These are children's books, not "advanced sexual theory", whatever the fuck that is. Learning about LGBTQ+ people is not inherently sexual. If it is, then any book showing any relationship, LGBTQ+ or cishet, is "advanced sexual theory". LGBTQ+ people exist that way from birth just like cishet people do. The sooner children realize that what they are is not unusual and not "wrong", the less emotional and psychological trauma they will face.
Don't bother. They think they need access to children or they will die. Like they actually think that, and I honestly don't think they realize how that sounds.
I don't really see the issue. They haven't even been removed, just moved to a different section. Its a ggovernment library, the government can make super minor decisions like this.
Yeah, the US has a great history of moving certain demographics to a separate section in order to appease bigots.
The government has never done anything bad by censuring certain people due to their identity. It's the government, and they're making dozens of small decisions in small, right leaning rural areas which has no effect on the people there.
Not surprising given your blatant bigotry.
i DoN'T rEaLlY sEe ThE iSsUE
okay well any book that mentions 'mommy and daddy,' we just decided to move it to the XXX section. How would you like that?
You don't care. You are arguing in bad faith. Take your filthy money and go back to Facebook.
I get why bigots would want to hide children's books from children. After all, they don't want their children taught that the minorities they want to murder in camps are people.
But why should anyone else want to hide books from the library patrons they're written for?