Illinois’ new secretary of state and Democrats in the General Assembly are pushing back against a rise in challenges to books shelved in libraries. Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias is also the state librarian. He is spearheading legislation that would make state grants to libraries contingent on their establishing “a written policy prohibiting the practice of banning books.” At stake is about $61 million annually to 1,600 public and school libraries. The legislation won House approval and awaits Senate action. It arose from debate in a suburban Chicago school district over the biography “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe. Opponents say they don’t want to ban books, just ensure sexually explicit material doesn’t end up in the hands of children not ready for it.
Kobabe's recollection of a journey of self-identity, which angry Downers Grove parents called a “pornographic sketchbook,” has been villified in other parts of the country, including Virginia, where a state court judge last summer refused to declare the book obscene and restrict its distribution.
“It’s important for people to be able to see themselves on the bookshelves," Stava-Murray said. “It’s not just someone who is a cisgendered white woman like myself, it’s someone who could be of a completely different ethnicity, different background, different culture. ... To take that diversity out is a very dangerous type of thinking.”“Nobody is in favor of doing that,” said Rep. Blaine Wilhour, a southern Illinois Republican and member of the Legislature's Freedom Caucus.
Whatever you call them, restrictions on literature in America have been around longer than the Constitution. According to Harvard University's Gutman Library, the government of Quincy, Massachusetts in 1637 banned Thomas Morton's “The New English Canaan” for apostasy in criticizing Puritan customs and exercise of power.
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