OKLAHOMA CITY – American libraries – including those in Oklahoma – have found themselves at the center of a culture war as some groups led a “historic effort to ban and challenge materials that address racism, gender, politics and sexual identity,” a newly released report from the American Library Association says.
Documented in the report “State of America’s Libraries,” school libraries faced 44 percent of the book challenges made in 2021. During that year 1,597 books were affected by censorship attempts. Thirty-nine percent of the challenges, the report said, were initiated by parents with another 24 precent coming from library patrons.
“These groups sought to pull books from school and public library shelves that share the stories of people who are gay, trans, Black, Indigenous, people of color, immigrants, and refugees,” wrote Stephanie Hlywak, the ALA’s director of communications. “But we know that banning books won’t make these realities and lived experiences disappear, nor will it erase our nation’s struggles to realize true equity, diversity, and inclusion.”
In Oklahoma, state Senator Rob Standridge, a Norman Republican, filed legislation that would ban books in public schools and school libraries that address topics such as gender, sexual identity and human sexuality.
Standridge’s bill, Senate Bill 1142, would prohibit public school districts, public charter schools, and public school libraries from “having or promoting books that address the study of sex, sexual preferences, sexual activity, sexual perversion, sex-based classifications, sexual identity, gender identity, or books that contain content of a sexual nature that a reasonable parent or legal guardian would want to know about or approve of before their child was exposed to it.”
The bill also includes a provision that allows parents to collect a fine of up to $10,000 per day for every day the questioned material remains on a school library’s shelf, after the material has been challenged.
Standridge’s bill passed the Senate Education Committee on March 1 with an 8 to 3 vote. The measure has yet to be heard by the full Senate.
In addition to Standridge’s bill, members of the Enid library board voted to ban sex- and gender-related book displays and library programs following a contentious three-hour meeting.
Under the new rules, the library would no longer place exhibits – or promote programs – that study sex, sexual activity, sex-based classifications, gender identity or sexual identity.
Library board chairman Joseph Fletcher, the author of the new policies, said the newly adopted rules show that sex and sexuality are private topics, but don’t ban or limit access to books and materials already in the library.
“No public institution should inundate its visitors with issues of sex and sexuality when they walk in,” Fletcher told the Enid News and Eagle. “Frankly, most people just don’t want to see it, and especially in a venue so heavily used by children.”
The ban follows an announcement by state Attorney General John O’Connor who said in February that his office was investigating 51 school library books for possible state obscenity violations. Just a day after the investigation became public, O’Connor switched course and said he would not continue the investigation.
O’Connor’s list of books included classics such as “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding and “Bless Me, Ultima,” by Rudolfo Anaya.
“I received complaints from several parents about books in public school libraries which the parents found obscene. I will always listen to the complaints of Oklahomans,” O’Connor said in a media statement. “I recommended that they present their objections to the school boards. I also recommended that they talk with the Legislature regarding how Oklahoma law defines ‘obscenity.’”
Cherity Pennington, the head of the Oklahoma Library Association, said Oklahoma has had policies in place for decades that encourage parental involvement in selecting school library materials.
On the national level, the ALA executive board said the organization would continue to oppose any effort to coerce belief, suppress opinion or punish those whose expression does not conform to what is deemed to be orthodox in history, politics or belief.
“Libraries manifest the promises of the First Amendment by making available the widest possible range of viewpoints, opinions, and ideas, so that every person has the opportunity to freely read and consider information and ideas regardless of their content or the viewpoint of the author. This requires the professional expertise of librarians who work in partnership with their communities to curate collections that serve the information needs of all their users,” the organization said.