I receive periodic emails from the Authors’ Guild, of which I am a member, to “fight book bans.” One such email from June 21st 2024 informed me that at the Authors’ Guild Gala on May 30 2024, librarian Suzette Baker, who had been “fired for refusing to comply with restricting access to certain books,” in particular books “related to race and LGBTQA+ experiences,” was presented with an award.
"For some reason, America’s librarians and cultural gatekeepers have decided that their no. 1 priority is the promotion of sexual material to children and, generally, of LGBTQ+ books."
Well, there's the crux of the issue. In my experience, most people lobbying for book banning, like this author, represent the librarian as a pusher of sexually explicit materials to children. They lie and say books with sexual activity is available to children, when the book is only available in a restricted section in the high school. They lie and say any book with a character who is homosexual, no matter how minor, is sexual content. So having a book on the shelf about gay penguin dads is equated with offering pornography to five year olds. Having a nonfiction book about seahorses is as well, because male seahorses incubate the eggs (this is a real example).
No way!!!! Why would anybody unsubscribe for something so unconsequential, like expressing an opinion about book awards? People are nuts. I am afraid we are becoming a nation of pussies :-(
Thank you for writing this. We must protect youth from the totalitarian propaganda machine that paints all people with different opinions as the "enemy" while simultaneously attacking the education of people with lower incomes.
"For some reason, America’s librarians and cultural gatekeepers have decided that their no. 1 priority is the promotion of sexual material to children and, generally, of LGBTQ+ books."
Well, there's the crux of the issue. In my experience, most people lobbying for book banning, like this author, represent the librarian as a pusher of sexually explicit materials to children. They lie and say books with sexual activity is available to children, when the book is only available in a restricted section in the high school. They lie and say any book with a character who is homosexual, no matter how minor, is sexual content. So having a book on the shelf about gay penguin dads is equated with offering pornography to five year olds. Having a nonfiction book about seahorses is as well, because male seahorses incubate the eggs (this is a real example).
Oh, my goodness, I will teach this essay in my class. It's brilliant!
Thank you. Apparently, not everybody thinks so. I had several people who unsubscribed after I published it. Strange.
No way!!!! Why would anybody unsubscribe for something so unconsequential, like expressing an opinion about book awards? People are nuts. I am afraid we are becoming a nation of pussies :-(
Thank you for writing this. We must protect youth from the totalitarian propaganda machine that paints all people with different opinions as the "enemy" while simultaneously attacking the education of people with lower incomes.