LGBTQ+ books at Alabama public libraries under fire

(NewsNation) — An ongoing battle within an Alabama library system is adding fuel to a national debate over free speech and censorship.

The Autauga-Prattville Library Board library board unanimously voted on Feb. 8 to halt purchasing of materials that contain LGBTQ+ content and “sexual content” intended for minors, The Prattville Post reported.

The Alabama Public Library Service also voted last month to pull out of the American Library Association (ALA).

Now, Alabama has found itself at the forefront of a larger conversation about restricting books with LGBTQ+ themes and characters — a debate that’s unfolding nationwide in places like Florida and Tennessee.

The Autauga-Prattville Library Board didn’t reply to NewsNation’s requests for comment.

Augusta-Prattville policy changes

In addition to its changes regarding LGBTQ+ content, the library has begun enforcing a mandatory adult supervision policy for children 15 and under.

Changes like those, following months of book challenges, concerns about potential Open Meetings Act violations, and a contentious board appointment process, have led several library board members to resign over the past few months, multiple local outlets reported.

“As a dedicated member of the community who wished to serve on the board with enthusiasm and commitment, I can no longer align myself with an institution that blatantly disregards the principles of free speech, engages in censorship, and perpetuates discrimination within its proposed policy changes,” former board member Christie Sellers wrote in a resignation letter obtained by the Prattville-Post.

The board’s director Andrew Foster stepped into the role in 2023 and told the Alabama Political Reporter that he is “against the censorship,” calling it a “very steep slope.”

Lee Rowland, executive director of the National Coalition Against Censorship, called the library’s decisions “discriminatory and unconstitutional.”

“Other recent efforts to scrub libraries of valuable content that grapples with sex and gender have rightly been judged as sweeping violations of the First Amendment, and Prattville’s assault on the right to read should fare no differently,” Rowland said in an official statement.

The ongoing debate comes after Republican Gov. Kay Ivey suggested that libraries’ funding should be contingent on their “sensible policies” surrounding “sexually explicit” or “inappropriate material.”

Alabama pulls out of American Library Association

Ivey’s concerns about the state of Alabama’s libraries weren’t limited to commonly challenged book titles. In an October letter to a member of Alabama’s Public Library Service, the governor said she “harbor(s) serious misgivings about the American Library Association and its influence over Alabama libraries.”

“When the ALA Bill of Rights prohibits ‘age’ discrimination, the ALA apparently means that children should have a right to access all library content, no questions asked,” Ivey wrote. “According to reports, librarians have cited this policy as a reason not to relocate inflammatory exhibits in a library’s children’s section, but such a policy is indefensible and has no place in Alabama libraries.”

The governor went on to describe her concerns about children being exposed to “inappropriate materials” without “adequate means of parental supervision.”  

In January, the Alabama Public Library Service voted to leave the American Library Association two months before its membership was set to expire.

Some Alabama Republicans said the ALA didn’t provide enough funding. Ivey, however, made clear she was in favor of leaving the ALA because she doesn’t believe it guards children from “inappropriate” material.

“I cannot defend the ALA’s position on ‘intellectual freedom’ insofar as it would entitle any child to access any book, however sexually explicit or otherwise inappropriate,” Ivey wrote.

The ALA has distributed $293,200 in grants across 36 libraries since 2021, according to data the ALA provided AL.com.

Where does Alabama fit in the national conversation?

The Autauga-Prattville Public Library serves about 130,000 patrons and on a national scale, Alabama’s book challenges are a drop in the bucket.

They underscore a growing trend, however.

There were attempts to ban or restrict access to 1,915 books from Jan. 1-Aug. 31, 2023, in the U.S., according to ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom.

That’s a 20% increase nationwide compared to the same period in 2022 — a year that saw the most book challenges in two decades. The majority of those challenges took issue with books written by or about a person of color or a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, according to data compiled by the ALA and PEN America.

“I think what we see happening is a real conflation of terms like obscenity and pornographic and sexual conduct to really aim to suppress books with LGBTQ+ characters and books that talk or include any sort of sex and sexual experiences books that talk about race and racism,” said Kasey Meehan, PEN America’s Freedom to Read program director.

It’s a trend that’s been mounting for years and so far has spread to at least 41 states, according to PEN America. So-called “copycat bans” – books removed from other districts once the title was successfully removed elsewhere – and the “Scarlet Letter” effect – a hit to an author’s other titles after at least one of their books was challenged – are compounding the situation.

Those fighting to remove certain books from their library circulation say their children have access to material with descriptions of sexual acts, violence and abuse that is too graphic for young minds.

Some of the most frequently challenged books include the memoirs “Gender Queer” and “All Boys Aren’t Blue” as well as popular young-adult fiction titles such as “Looking for Alaska” and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.” Each book has been challenged dozens of times at least in part for LGBTQ+ content, according to the American Library Association.

Other titles including Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye” and Ashley Hope Pérez’s “Out of Darkness” have been challenged for depictions of abuse.

“Those books have gone through selection processes from the educator, the library or the district to bring those books in the first place,” Meehan said. “And what we’re seeing is the removal of those books based on these narrow ideological objections.”