> “We’re not intending to discriminate based off of what sexual orientation is being furnished to minors. It’s any and all sexually explicit content,” he said in an interview with a local TV station.
So if I modified the book to feature two straight parents chasing a rainbow dinosaur and changed absolutely nothing else, it should still be "sexually explicit," right?
I think exactly the same thing whenever I see a story like this. But then again, that was the whole idea: to *define* anything LGBTQ+, and especially transgender, as "sexually explicit."
OTOH, maybe it is sexually explicit to them. Which says a lot about what sort of lurid, self-loathing sex fantasies they are desperately trying to repress.
Actually, showing straight parents in fiction is far more sexual than showing gay parents.
Imagine the author tries to deny the sexual content, by claiming that there is nothing sexual about the parents, in fact they are both virgins, the kid is adopted, and this was always the plan from the very beginning and definitely not a retcon. If the parents are straight, no one will believe the author. But if the parents are gay, it is suddenly far more believable.
Thank you for writing about my hometown library. I'm so proud of our library and our community for supporting them to host this important and fun LGBTQ+ event
Kids being enlightened is a crime, so says the ultra-douche crowd, so it goes in these "red states" I guess, but good on this library standing for something, freedom of information, FFS.
As a retired librarian this really hit home and im amazed at the strength and tenacity of these Missouri librarians- guys you rock!
Definitely there should be a go fund me if it comes to a legal challenge. It reminds ne of a book banning case I am following: See Librarian Amanda Jones gofundme
Great reporting, S. Baum -- thank you!! These bigots really aren't the brightest stars in the constellation, are they? As someone else points out below, if "sexually explicit" just means being gay or trans, then I guess books with heterosexual couples are also sexually explicit. I really don't know what's going to be left to read in that library. Watch out for the dictionary, some of those words are very suspect.... And many of the stories in the Old Testament -- omg, let's not go there! I blush just thinking about it....
New testament is fine tho. If one of the parents is canonically a virgin, then it can not possibly be sexually explicit. It's not even sexually implicit.
At the Daniel Boone Regional Library, a planned Rainbow Story Event was met not with dialogue, but with intimidation. Missouri's Attorney General and Secretary of State reportedly threatened the library with the loss of funding and even criminal action, claiming the event would "mold and manipulate" young minds.
That accusation is deeply ironic. Libraries exist to expose children to ideas, literature, empathy, and the diversity of the world around them. The real attempt to manipulate young minds comes from politicians who use the power of government to censor books, intimidate librarians, and decide which families' stories are acceptable.
Those threats were later criticized by another Republican candidate for public office, underscoring how extreme this political intimidation had become.
Bigotry fears knowledge because knowledge creates understanding. These politicians don't want children to think for themselves—they want them to see the world only through a narrow ideological lens. Libraries should be places of learning, curiosity, and inclusion, not targets of political bullying.
Good for this library. and others who have the strength to stand up for what is right.
I hope that this politician is defeated as other have who have pushed these policies.
Would love for someone to show him some pages from those books and ask him which pages are pornographic, in an interview. I'm sure he'd just weasel out of it, but the thought is something.
And then to show him a book showing a heteronormative family and ask him why by the same standards that one is not pornographic.
I've been convinced for some time that for a not-inconsiderable portion of the fanatics, anything LGBTQ+ *is* pornographic because for them it's not about who or what someone is, it's all about how they "do it" and the self-disgust the fantasies that thought arouses in them must be driven into hiding.
Thank you for embedding the Wick Thomas presser. What a wonderful representative of sanity. I hope his reading of Rainbowasaurus is clipped and available every time someone attempts to claim it is controversial, much less pornographic*.
I’m overwhelmed by anger verging on hatred, emotions I’m not used to feeling. How do we organize to combat this dangerous nonsense?
*Have any authors or publishers sued politicians for defamation when they make these claims? Pornography is a serious charge with a legal definition. Call me Potter Stewart, but it should not be hard to demonstrate that this is libelous, slanderous behavior.
> “We’re not intending to discriminate based off of what sexual orientation is being furnished to minors. It’s any and all sexually explicit content,” he said in an interview with a local TV station.
So if I modified the book to feature two straight parents chasing a rainbow dinosaur and changed absolutely nothing else, it should still be "sexually explicit," right?
I think exactly the same thing whenever I see a story like this. But then again, that was the whole idea: to *define* anything LGBTQ+, and especially transgender, as "sexually explicit."
OTOH, maybe it is sexually explicit to them. Which says a lot about what sort of lurid, self-loathing sex fantasies they are desperately trying to repress.
Actually, showing straight parents in fiction is far more sexual than showing gay parents.
Imagine the author tries to deny the sexual content, by claiming that there is nothing sexual about the parents, in fact they are both virgins, the kid is adopted, and this was always the plan from the very beginning and definitely not a retcon. If the parents are straight, no one will believe the author. But if the parents are gay, it is suddenly far more believable.
TY Baum.
More power to them! They'll need a legal defense fund . . .
For once I'm proud of my state.
Thank you for writing about my hometown library. I'm so proud of our library and our community for supporting them to host this important and fun LGBTQ+ event
Thank you to the librarians and to Rep. Wick Thomas for standing up for what is right.
I called the library to thank them for standing with the LGBTQ community.
Kids being enlightened is a crime, so says the ultra-douche crowd, so it goes in these "red states" I guess, but good on this library standing for something, freedom of information, FFS.
As a retired librarian this really hit home and im amazed at the strength and tenacity of these Missouri librarians- guys you rock!
Definitely there should be a go fund me if it comes to a legal challenge. It reminds ne of a book banning case I am following: See Librarian Amanda Jones gofundme
There was a movie too about it, The Librarian. 🏆
Great reporting, S. Baum -- thank you!! These bigots really aren't the brightest stars in the constellation, are they? As someone else points out below, if "sexually explicit" just means being gay or trans, then I guess books with heterosexual couples are also sexually explicit. I really don't know what's going to be left to read in that library. Watch out for the dictionary, some of those words are very suspect.... And many of the stories in the Old Testament -- omg, let's not go there! I blush just thinking about it....
New testament is fine tho. If one of the parents is canonically a virgin, then it can not possibly be sexually explicit. It's not even sexually implicit.
At the Daniel Boone Regional Library, a planned Rainbow Story Event was met not with dialogue, but with intimidation. Missouri's Attorney General and Secretary of State reportedly threatened the library with the loss of funding and even criminal action, claiming the event would "mold and manipulate" young minds.
That accusation is deeply ironic. Libraries exist to expose children to ideas, literature, empathy, and the diversity of the world around them. The real attempt to manipulate young minds comes from politicians who use the power of government to censor books, intimidate librarians, and decide which families' stories are acceptable.
Those threats were later criticized by another Republican candidate for public office, underscoring how extreme this political intimidation had become.
Bigotry fears knowledge because knowledge creates understanding. These politicians don't want children to think for themselves—they want them to see the world only through a narrow ideological lens. Libraries should be places of learning, curiosity, and inclusion, not targets of political bullying.
Good for this library. and others who have the strength to stand up for what is right.
I hope that this politician is defeated as other have who have pushed these policies.
> When pressed, Brattin also conceded he hadn’t read the books in question, because he didn’t want to “spend money” on it.
Someone should tell him that there are places where you can legally borrow books and read them, without spending any money.
Would love for someone to show him some pages from those books and ask him which pages are pornographic, in an interview. I'm sure he'd just weasel out of it, but the thought is something.
And then to show him a book showing a heteronormative family and ask him why by the same standards that one is not pornographic.
I've been convinced for some time that for a not-inconsiderable portion of the fanatics, anything LGBTQ+ *is* pornographic because for them it's not about who or what someone is, it's all about how they "do it" and the self-disgust the fantasies that thought arouses in them must be driven into hiding.
I so needed a positive piece of news today. Up above someone posted that they will be needing a legal fund. I totally agree.
I’m imagining or not rainbow dinosaurs engaged in pornograhic activity. How would they do it, anyway?
I guess each of us who was ever born were victims of porn?
Thank you for embedding the Wick Thomas presser. What a wonderful representative of sanity. I hope his reading of Rainbowasaurus is clipped and available every time someone attempts to claim it is controversial, much less pornographic*.
I’m overwhelmed by anger verging on hatred, emotions I’m not used to feeling. How do we organize to combat this dangerous nonsense?
*Have any authors or publishers sued politicians for defamation when they make these claims? Pornography is a serious charge with a legal definition. Call me Potter Stewart, but it should not be hard to demonstrate that this is libelous, slanderous behavior.
Fight like hell! Damn book bans are an abomination, the work of the devil in white men’s cloths.