Pella’s assistant library director, a man called Chris Brown, spoke up at a December Library Board meeting in defense of keeping the book “Gender Queer,” which contains a number of sexually explicit images.
Brown said the Pella Library serves everyday white Angelo Saxon Christians — “many, many, many.”
“We also serve homosexuals, queers, transgenders, Muslim, Hindu, abled, disabled — we serve all of these groups,” he said. “And this is not just one child who went to the pool — these are full-grown adults who live and work and love and play in Pella. And pay taxes, the same as everyone else. So, I have an obligation to service. I have an obligation to make sure they’re served as part of my professional ethics.”
Brown then noted the term “loco parentis,” which is Latin for “in the place of a parent.” He said it is a legal term because when a child is dropped off at school, the school takes “loco parentis.”
“That is to say that they are responsible, legally, for your child until you pick them up from school,” Brown said. “The library does not have that obligation. We do not. When your child is in the library, you are responsible for monitoring that child.”
Brown checked out “Gender Queer” and read it twice. He put it on his ottoman and watched as his 7-year-old came and picked up the book.
“I said, ‘that’s not a book I want you to read. That’s not appropriate for you,'” Brown said. “And he looks at me and I said, ‘I told you no.’ And he put the book down and he walked away. I’m not seeing the problem here.”
Wait – this Brown guy didn’t call white Christians in Pella Anglo-Saxons did he? That will upset them. I’m pretty sure they’re Dutch.