A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction last week against an Arkansas law that established criminal charges for librarians and booksellers who lend or sell so-called “harmful” material to minors — largely books they think will turn kids gay or trans — on the grounds that it is a pretty obvious violation of the First Amendment. It’s one thing for asshole parents to tell their kids what they can and cannot read, but what business do they have denying books to kids whose parents don’t want them to grow up to be illiterate bigots?
The measure, signed into law by Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders earlier this year, also made it easier for “concerned parents” to demand that books they take issue with be put in an area that would be off-limits to children. You know, like when video stores back in the day had backrooms filled with porn, except these proposed spaces would be enormous, because we’re not just talking about porn here, but any book that some parents feel like kids shouldn’t read, which is probably literally everything but The Baby-Sitters Club. Wait — maybe not even that. After all, Kristy was pretty butch.
In fact, the only reason it wouldn’t have encompassed the whole damn library beyond the Little Golden Books would have been that these people don’t seem to actually read a whole lot. So kids would be barred from reading I Am Jazz or A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo, but free to check out all the Baaaaalllllllzac they want.
Or perhaps Georges Bataille’s The Story of the Eye.
Not that they shouldn’t be free to do that anyway. I read that book in 10th grade and look how I turned out! Flawed, but at least not a weirdo who goes around banning books. Or putting eyeballs where eyeballs shouldn’t go, because shockingly enough it is entirely possible to read a book and then not go out and do the thing you just read about in the book. Except for awkwardly trying to start a Baby-Sitters Club. Or trying to find raspberry cordial to get drunk off of (not an easy task — I’ve still never managed to locate any), or asking their Nana to make them blancmange, because who didn’t try to do that shit?
While Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin said in an email this weekend that he would be “reviewing the judge’s opinion and will continue to vigorously defend the law,” despite how obviously unconstitutional it is, people who actually like books were all very happy about the ruling.
Via AP:
The executive director of Central Arkansas Library System, Nate Coulter, said the judge’s 49-page decision recognized the law as censorship, a violation of the Constitution and wrongly maligning librarians.
“As folks in southwest Arkansas say, this order is stout as horseradish!” he said in an email.
“I’m relieved that for now the dark cloud that was hanging over CALS’ librarians has lifted,” he added.
Cheryl Davis, general counsel for the Authors Guild, said the organization is “thrilled” about the decision. She said enforcing this law “is likely to limit the free speech rights of older minors, who are capable of reading and processing more complex reading materials than young children can.”
The measure was meant to go into effect August 1, but hopefully will remain off the books forever.
* Two "Mom's for Fascism--er--Liberty check every LGBT book out of a local library.
* Send the librarian an email saying they won't return them until the library agrees to get rid of them.
* Story gets out.
* Donors not only replace the stolen books but raise $15K for MORE LGBT books...that the city later matches.
Fuck "Moms for Liberty."
https://themessenger.com/news/residents-flood-library-with-new-copies-of-lgbtq-books-stolen-by-anti-pride-protestors
$5 says Shuckabee cheered and applauded when she got to the end of Old Yeller.