Attacks On The Nation’s Libraries Are About Class As Much As Censorship

For at least a year now, Republican lawmakers across the country have targeted public libraries over their inclusion of queer and transgender authors and works that address any subject matter related to sexuality and racism.

One of the most recent examples of this includes the Missouri House of Representatives, controlled by Republicans, approving a budget that would eliminate $4.5 million in state funding for public libraries. The move, led by Missouri Rep. Cody Smith, who serves as House Budget Committee chair, reportedly came in response to the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri filing a lawsuit on behalf of the Missouri Association of School Librarians and the Missouri Library Association that challenges a 2022 state law banning educators from “providing sexually explicit material” to students.

The problem with the recently enacted state law, a violation of which can result in up to a $2,000 fine or a year in jail, is that conservatives tend to inherently brand any material chronicling queerness or challenging the gender binary to be indecent.

That has resulted in nearly 300 books being removed from school libraries, according to EducationWeek.

Fortunately, lawmakers in Missouri’s state Senate say they plan to restore the $4.5 million library funding back into the budget proposal that was stripped out of the House version of the budget, but attacks on libraries elsewhere continue.

According to a database from EveryLibrary, more than 100 bills in state legislatures in at least 31 states with similar intentions of the Missouri House bill have been introduced this year. They seek to regulate the kinds of books and materials that are accessible to patrons. If all else fails, lawmakers try to cut the library budgets altogether.

Such was the case after a federal judge ordered the return of banned books to public library shelves in Llano County — prompting state officials in the rural Texas county to consider shutting down library services entirely.

The books in question included Isabel Wilkerson’s ”Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents,” Dawn McMillan’s “I Need a New Butt!” series, and another book for teens that correctly labeled the Ku Klux Klan as a terrorist group.

After a number of local residents showed up at the hearing last Thursday in protest, the choice was made to keep the libraries open. Sadly, the sensible choice is not always a guarantee.

Last year, voters in Michigan’s Jamestown Township rejected two separate tax…