Every time I read about some foolish, small-minded people who decide their fear of people who are not exactly like themselves overwhelms them – and they have to throw tantrums and ensure books are hidden away from people – I am horrified.
Why would anyone pay attention this small group of foolish (or evil, but I’m trying to give them the benefit of the doubt) people? I have literally no idea.
The vast majority of people are opposed to banning books. Any reasonable person, confronted with a book they don’t enjoy for whatever reason, would understand that it’s okay. Don’t read it. If you feel you must, tell your kids and your family members they are also not allowed to read it. Fine. Make that choice for yourself. But it’s not appropriate to hide books from other people.
I’ve said this in other places, but I read the book that seems to be one of the most-mentioned books in all the banning/witch-burning hysteria: Gender Queer, by Maia Kobabe. While I wouldn’t recommend it to an eight year old, I would definitely recommend this to teens and adults. I found it to be very thoughtful, and a good look at how one person worked through a challenging personal issue.
This may not be everyone’s personal issue, but I think reading through this give some perspective on what people are thinking about – or just to give an idea on how one person confronted and grew into the person they should be. All of us should be striving to do this same thing.
I am embarrassed for the people of Michigan that they have to be near these awful people. What a needless disgrace and a tragedy.
Check out this article excerpt, and read the whole thing here.
Residents of a Michigan town defunded their library after it refused to remove LGBTQ books.
“Another day, another example of grown adults rallying to ban books that could be educational, affirming, and in some cases life-saving for their kids. This one is in west Michigan, where residents of Jamestown Township voted this week to defund their local library following public disagreements about its inclusion of LGBTQ books for young adults.
The vote was against renewing a millage, the share of property taxes that provides 84 percent of the Patmos Library’s operating budget, for 2023. Ron French noted, in an extensive report for Bridge Michigan, that this “may be the first time a community voted, in effect, to close its library” rather than continue to provide LGBTQ books to kids.
French lays out the timeline of the controversy, which centers on several books with queer themes, particularly Gender Queer, a graphic memoir by Maia Kobabe on coming of age as a nonbinary and asexual person.
This spring, library meetings have been filled with residents complaining about the presence of Gender Queer in the library as well as Spinning by Tillie Walden and Kiss Number 8 by Colleen AF Venable (illustrated by Ellen T. Crenshaw). French described the local fallout, which included the resignation of library staff as well as publicly posted hate speech:
Library Director Amber McLain resigned this spring, telling Bridge she had been harassed online and accused of indoctrinating children. Interim director Matthew Lawrence resigned later. …”
“When library staff refused to take the books from the library, the effort to defund it began. The library can operate on its current budget through the end of the first quarter of 2023; after that, library board president Larry Walton told French, the library would have to close.
This is all very scary and upsetting, as well as a great example of why we need local journalists tracking these decisions (and talking to the people trying to stop them). I’ll be paying attention to Bridge Michigan as it follows the story.”