League City Councilman Justin Hicks trots out all the conservative dog-whistle issues ("Media misrepresented League City library resolution," The Daily News, Dec. 14, 2022). Fake news! Pedophiles! Parent’s rights!
In fact, Resolution 22-0549 did nothing to provide more protections than existing state law. A waste of time and energy that will set the city up for expensive legal challenges.
This was a very badly worded solution in search of a problem. The council could have simply added a step of review and appeal in the existing process.
The library is already prohibited from purchasing obscene material. Where is the library committee comprised of League City citizens?
How many members of the new committee? How are they appointed? Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy. This is not governance.
Citizens should be very concerned. This is a page right out of the Nazi playbook. Demonize LGBTQ+ people, restrict participation in governance, and ban books.
Parents will not be involved in these decisions. They will lie solely with the city council.
Even if you support the resolution, your First Amendment rights are violated.
Fight back! Elect council and school board candidates that support people, not politics. Engage with the librarians.
Donate to the ACLU or join Texans for the Right to Read. We must be vigilant and active.
No books are banned by the resolution. Would you let your under 10-year old look at Playboy? Playboy is not banned in libraries but access to it is restricted to a more mature reader. I know a public school librarian who kept the swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated behind the desk. Access was limited. In a similar manner.
Privately owned movie theaters rate their movies by content:
G - General audiences
PG - Parental Guidance
PG-13 - May not be suitable for under 13 year olds
R - Restricted No one under 18 allowed without parent or adult guardian
NC -17 - No one under 17 permitted
How are the library's actions any different?
Now if you BUY or rent a movie rated not suitable for your children you can do whatever you want. Likewise if you BUY one of those books with restricted access you can do whatever you want. You will have to live with the consequences.... but you cannot blame the library.[whistling]
The LC resolution is just political theater. Librarians are already empowered to keep age-inappropriate books out of the hands of kids. It serves no purpose other than to demonstrate to the public that LC government is entirely under the sway of the fearful and punitive cancel culture that passes for conservative ideology in the Age of Trump.
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No books are banned by the resolution. Would you let your under 10-year old look at Playboy? Playboy is not banned in libraries but access to it is restricted to a more mature reader. I know a public school librarian who kept the swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated behind the desk. Access was limited. In a similar manner.
Privately owned movie theaters rate their movies by content:
G - General audiences
PG - Parental Guidance
PG-13 - May not be suitable for under 13 year olds
R - Restricted No one under 18 allowed without parent or adult guardian
NC -17 - No one under 17 permitted
How are the library's actions any different?
Now if you BUY or rent a movie rated not suitable for your children you can do whatever you want. Likewise if you BUY one of those books with restricted access you can do whatever you want. You will have to live with the consequences.... but you cannot blame the library.[whistling]
The solution is simple, don’t go to anyplace you don’t like the content! That' why I don't go to church.
The LC resolution is just political theater. Librarians are already empowered to keep age-inappropriate books out of the hands of kids. It serves no purpose other than to demonstrate to the public that LC government is entirely under the sway of the fearful and punitive cancel culture that passes for conservative ideology in the Age of Trump.
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