Yesterday the senate passed An Act Regarding Free Expression, protecting our freedom to read. It is designed to protect librarians in public schools and public libraries from harassment by people intent on censorship of literature. We passed the bill in a strong form after adopting strengthening amendments and rejecting weakening amendments. See this fact sheet prepared by the Senate Press office for more detail and see this press release for comments from the leaders most directly responsible for the legislation.
You can view my own floor comments in support of the bill below. You can also view the whole session: the discussion of the bill starts one hour in — Senator Cyr offers a great overview of the book ban issue and the content of the bill.
The slide show below shares quotes from authors in support of the bill.
I am always thankful I live in Massachusetts. We’re not perfect, but we try to get better at doing the right thing. Thank you for your part in this endeavor.
Two observations:
1) It is somewhat concerning to link standards in the bill to ALA standards, since that opens up the possibility that bad actors might take over the ALA similar to how they’ve taken over other organizations, gaining the ability to change the ALA standards and thereby suborn from within any law that requires libraries to abide by them. Has the legislature examined the governance structure of the ALA sufficiently to be confident that is is safe from such a takeover?
2) While I do appreciate the requirements spelled out in this law, I am worried that to some extent they are an unfunded mandate. Local governments, schools, library boards, etc., are all overworked and strapped for cash, and this law would drop more work on their plates. What thought has been given to ensuring that they have the financial resources to carry out the required work without negatively impacting other important work that they do?
Fair points.
At this time the ALA is well-respected, but if that changes, we can change the law.
As to the second point, this bill really takes a burden off local governments. Yes, they have to make sure they have a transparent policy — they should be doing that anyway — but the huge benefit is that they are substantially protected from harassment.
As an educator for more than 30 years, I applaud the legislators for passing this bill. Everyone should be encouraged to read a wide variety of text from an early age. Fiction often expands our understanding of differences and breeds tolerance. We need books of all kinds always. Many thanks, Kris
Thank you, Will. This is so very important.
Will, this is important work and I appreciate it.
I don’t think anyone is trying to ban Shakespeare. The concern is with introducing pornographic materials to young children. Books like Lawn boy and Gender Queer. Same issue with having drag artist perform for children. These books are graphic pornography that seem to have an agenda. Would you support more explicit pornography being promoted in libraries, such as Hustler, etc? Or promote online pornography on library computers?
BTW…You did an excellent reading of Shakespeare.
Well said. When, as in this case, the ideologues are in charge, agendas are ‘hidden in plain sight’.
Excellent question!
Neither Lawn Boy nor Gender Queer meets the legal definition of “pornographic”.
People in drag performing for children also does not meet the legal definition of “pornographic”.
At no time in U.S. history has a person in drag reading a story to children in a library every been accused of any sort of child abuse. The same cannot be said for the fascists trying to censor our libraries.
Equating Lawn Boy and Gender Queer with Hustler and online pornography is a stupid, asinine red herring.
Please crawl back under the rock you came out from, along with the rest of your ilk trying to destroy democracy and freedom of expression in this country. Thanks.
You sound like a lovely person.
Is your opinion on Lawn Boy and Gender Queer based on actually reading the books, or is it something you’ve been told? I don’t feel either meet the criteria for “explicit pornography”, likening them to Hustler is clearly evident of an “agenda”, and finding the imagery in Gender Queer “pornographic” is disturbing.
Yes to Jonathan and Kerry, and by the way, people HAVE tried to ban or censor Shakespeare. Look up “bowdlerize”.
The creepy grooming agenda of “books” like Lawn Boy and Gender Queer are far more sinister than Hustler. Leave the children alone!
Bravo, Mark, for stating the legitimate concerns that many of us have on this issue. Young children are very impressionable, and we need to be very careful about the way society shapes their views and proclivities, or contributes to the development of assorted “kinks” (the latter can have a profoundly negative effect of people’s abilities to form long-lasting relationships and families).
Ensuring that underage individuals are not exposed to literature with sexually-oriented agenda is not censorship, it’s simply common sense and civic responsibility.
I agree with you. It has gone too far and no, we can’t protect young children because of this bill
Congratulations to everyone associated with this move. Well done. Organized campaigns of mind-control have become more widespread and far more blatant in recent times. But cheer up: that’s a sure sign that the interests behind them are actually losing power (or have real reasons to fear losing power) and are now operating in panic-mode. In that mode they make stupid mistakes and tip their hand. This struggle for freedom of expression is far from over, but now the censors are increasingly being smoked out. And openly challenged. Soon they’ll be on the run and lawyering-up. Better days are coming.
Wonderful news. Thank you so much. It is so important.
This is the “Hands Off our Dogma Law!”
Thank you, Will, for your passionate, articulate defense! I was a voracious reader as a child. Books were the best exposure I had to the world, so I learned more from them than I did from television, or even the people in my community.
I must admit, the notion that hordes of deranged librarians would actively conspire with darkly powerful villains to exploit and harm innocent children, using books as their weapon of choice, does revive faint memories from long ago. Indistinct images of standing in line at the convenience store checkout counter, idly gazing at the headlines on page one of the National Enquirer. Scenes like that. Exactly how far back does this trope go? When and where did it first appear in print? The tabloids in the sixties? Maybe some R. Crumb comic from the seventies? Or am I completely mistaken, and it’s really just a brand-new meme concocted by Trump supporters in order to distract us from the Epstein files? Any ideas?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_contagion
Thanks for this, Will.
A person in drag reading to kids is no more likely to influence them to be gay than a clown reading to kids will turn them into fools. We’re in the 21st century! It’s well past time to get over it & accept that some folks are born homosexual! Like Socrates, Plato, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and an incalculable number of others. We no longer think people with red hair are possessed by the devil, do we?
Now I remember….Pizzagate, 2016. Some far-right folks swore that kids were being trafficked in the basement of a pizza place in DC And that the Hillary Clinton campaign team was deeply involved. The story got huge coverage online. However, it turned out that the building in question did not have a basement. Which presumably meant that an organized child-trafficking ring was allegedly transacting business right there in the dining area, among the scurrying waitstaff and the seated customers. (The kitchen, I assure you, would be far too small and even more crowded.) Granted, Americans in general are woefully deficient in situational awareness. But one must assume that an active slave market located in a place holding a public victualler’s license would probably attract some attention. Visiting tourists from Des Moines would surely be intrigued. And would report it to someone. Similarly, any ordinary person visiting the local library might be expected to notice a pornographic presentation taking place in the childrens’ books section. Or to hear about it later from their own kids. Somehow the subsequent wire service report must have escaped my attention. Please let me know when someone finds it, so I can cite the details…names, dates, street address… in a letter to my elected representatives.
Addendum: I don’t for a moment doubt that child trafficking in this country has occurred, and may well still be happening. Along with systematic corruption of kids by means of porn. On a significant scale. But the first place I’d investigate wouldn’t be a library. It would be a certain island in the Carribbean. And then a certain very high-end residence in New York City. I’d question the high rollers and playboys and power brokers who have frequented those places. For sure I’d want to shed light on any concerted attempts to hush those matters up and block investigations into them. And I’d wonder about campaigns to divert public attention to other issues, such as foreign heads of state. Or the balance of trade. Or undocumented immigrants. Or the smuggling of illicit drugs. I hope someone, at long last, will soon start devoting some serious attention to all this. Oh, wait….