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I wish I had better news to report. Unfortunately, today’s email newsletter is going to be one of great frustration for many of you.
Would you believe a Republican legislator said the following at a forum on Thursday night…
“I think that the libraries are doing a great job.”
Now, maybe if the quote continued with something like “at providing materials to kids anyone else anywhere else would go to jail for” then it would make sense.
Instead, we’re left with perhaps the most nonsensical line of the legislative session so far.
“I think that the libraries are doing a great job.”
Those were the words chosen by Republican State Sen. Dawn Driscoll at a forum minutes away from the local library in Washington as she vowed to kill Senate File 347, a bill that would apply the same standards for books with descriptions or visual depictions of sex acts at public school libraries to public libraries.
Republican State Sen. Scott Webster assigned the bill to a subcommittee of Driscoll, himself and a Democrat. Driscoll declared the bill’s death the same day it was assigned to her. So who knows exactly how much time she spent reviewing or researching it.
The bill was sponsored by conservative Republican Senators Sandy Salmon, Mike Pike, Cherielynn Westrich, Kevin Alons, Doug Campbell and Dennis Guth.
Driscoll, though, apparently doesn’t believe public libraries should be restricted from checking out books to kids that describe or include visual depictions of the following sex acts:
“Any sexual contact between two or more persons by any of the following:
1. Penetration of the penis into the vagina or anus.
2. Contact between the mouth and genitalia or mouth and anus or by contact between the genitalia of one person and the genitalia or anus of another person.
3. Contact between the finger, hand, or other body part of one person and the genitalia or anus of another person, except in the course of examination or treatment by a person licensed pursuant to chapter 148, 148C, 151 or 152.
4. Ejaculation onto the person of another.
5. By use of artificial sexual organs or substitutes therefore in contact with the genitalia or anus.
6. The touching of a person’s own genitals or anus with a finger, hand, or artificial sexual organ or other similar device at the direction of another person.”
As uncomfortable as reading that description, imagine being a child and seeing visual depictions of any of them in a book. Or being a child and reading descriptions of any of those activities in a book that you found inside your government-funded library.
But according to the Southeast Iowa Union, this is what Driscoll said when asked about bills attempting to keep public libraries from providing obscene materials to children…
“I’m not going to be holding a subcommittee on that bill. We’re not going to be moving that forward, out of the Senate, anyway.”
Look, I have highlighted the inappropriate books at various Iowa libraries time and time and time again. But here is the kicker, Driscoll made these comments in a city whose library is one of the worst offenders.
*This Book Is Gay. Here we have a book with a chapter called “Ins and Outs of Gay Sex.” A book that dives into “chemsex,” where people mix drugs and sex. A book that tells kids how to use gay sex apps to meet others. The book tells kids…”if people want casual sex, then something like Grindr is a must…” It gets worse. Don’t believe me, check this out. Still don’t believe me, watch this mom read an excerpt from it. According to the online catalog for the Washington Library, this book is available in the Young Adult section, which is considered a section for 12-18-year-olds.
*It’s Perfectly Normal: A Book About Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex and Sexual Health. I haven’t highlighted this one before. This one targets 10-year-olds. Ten-year-olds are told explicitly about, well, let’s say the book fits the definition of what isn’t age-appropriate. And there’s absolutely insane photos in the book depicting exactly what the law Driscoll is killing would prohibit from being presented to children. Ten-year-olds are also told about masturbation. And while “some people think” it is wrong or harmful, and “some religions call masturbation a sin,” 10-year-olds are told masturbating cannot hurt you and that “many people masturbate.” One Amazon reviewer said the book should be titled “How To Groom Young Children For Pedophiles.” If you are looking for that one inside the Washington Library, it’s on the shelf in the juvenile nonfiction section. These books are intended for readers ages 8-18.
*The Every Body Book: The LGBTQ+ Inclusive Guide for Kids About Sex, Gender, Bodies and Families. This is an award-winning book for children under 18. It’s intended for 8-year-olds. Eight pages in, 8-year-olds are told “many people with vaginas are women, but some are not.” Gender, 8-year-olds are told, is “how we identify ourselves in our hearts and our minds – girl, boy, neither or somewhere in between.” Eight-year-olds are told being transgender is NOT a choice, just like some people being left-handed, having curly hair or freckles. There’s pictures. There’s also pictures of various condoms and other forms of birth control.
While parents have responsibility for what children view at a library, I would also argue the government has a responsibility for what it allows children to view at a government institution (like a library).
Unfortunately, according to the Southeast Iowa Union, Republican State Rep. Heather Hora said if the issue is dead in the Senate, the House will not put it on the floor. Hora, to her credit, voted for a bill in committee that would remove the obscenity exemption for public libraries.
This makes sense as something that is obscene everywhere else isn’t suddenly not obscene inside the four walls of a public library. As our readers know, the Iowa Senate voted UNANIMOUSLY to make it illegal for parents to disseminate obscene materials to their own children. Yet somehow, it’s totally fine for government libraries to provide obscene materials to kiddos.
Sen. Scott Webster is the chair of the Local Government Committee and could reassign the bill to a different subcommittee chair who will work to protect kids from obscene materials in government libraries. That is his call. If you would like to encourage him to do so, his legislative email is [email protected].
Driscoll could also change her mind and decide the books listed above should not be available to children inside the local government library near where she said that libraries are “doing great.” She can be encouraged at [email protected].
While I find it difficult to believe, my hope is Sen. Driscoll simply has not followed this issue closely and doesn’t understand the depth of the depravity of some of the books being offered to kids inside Iowa’s government libraries. My hope is any Republican in government would not support an institution of the government allowing children to gain access to a book going through the ins and outs of gay sex, describing a glory hole or educating minors on how to use a dating app to find people to have sex with.
Once people know what sort of materials are in these government libraries — even the local library in the city where Driscoll said libraries are “doing great” — they tend to wake up to the reality that government libraries are instead doing great harm to children.
The role of government is to protect kids, not harm them. Let’s let kids be kids. Let’s not use a government institution to provide them with obscene materials. Let’s stop pretending an obscene book isn’t obscene if it is inside a library.
I didn’t even bring up the plethora of issues from other Iowa government libraries I have covered. But issues exist. And while some government libraries in Iowa may not be offering materials like this to their underage patrons, we know many are.
And while they may be “doing great,” whatever “great” they are doing doesn’t make up for the damage they are inflicting.
Let’s do more than give the bill a subcommittee, let’s make it law so that our government libraries can be a place of protection for a child’s innocence rather than a place of perversion.
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