Say Bye, Bye To The Libraies.

Say goodbye to the libraries, the Republicans have created fear with the librarians!

EveryLibrary Statement on Louisiana HB777, the Anti-ALA Bill

If Louisiana librarians join the American Library Association they could be arrested and spend two years in jail.

April 02, 2024

EveryLibrary strongly opposes Louisiana House Bill 777.

This legislation undermines the fundamental American principles of free association and the right to assemble and violates the constitutional rights guaranteed to every citizen. It aims to prohibit public officials and employees from using public funds in any dealings with the American Library Association (ALA), thereby restricting opportunities for professional development and access to a vital network of resources and support. Additionally, it proposes severe punitive measures, including fines and imprisonment, for those seeking to engage with or benefit from the ALA's offerings, which are disproportionate and a violation of our fundamental freedoms.

Legislating against a membership organization based on viewpoint is unconstitutional and unacceptable. It violates the principle of free association, a cherished and protected right in our democracy. Penalizing individuals for joining or participating in the activities of a professional organization like the ALA, which enhances the professional growth of librarians and improves the services libraries provide to the public, goes against the values of free thought, inquiry, and the collective improvement of our society.

The Republicans want to keep us stupid!

Louisiana librarians could face longer jail time than criminals guilty of assault in new bill

Acadina Advocate

BY CLAIRE TAYLOR 

April 10, 2024

Public librarians who request reimbursement for taking continuing education classes through the American Library Association could face harsher penalties than someone who commits aggravated assault under a bill proposed by state Rep. Kellee Dickerson, a Republican from Denham Springs.

House bill 777 would prohibit public officials or employees from spending public funds with the ALA, whether it be for continuing education or attending conferences sponsored or conducted, in whole or in part, by the ALA or its successor.

Library employees who even request reimbursement for ALA expenses are considered in violation under the proposed bill.

The ALA, which provides much of the training for librarians, has been under attack by conservatives who say the nonprofit group's policies support exposing children to porn and whose president is a self-described Marxist. The State Library of Louisiana as well as some local library boards, including the Lafayette Public Library board, have severed ties with the ALA.

[…]

The penalty as proposed can be harsher than someone convicted of aggravated assault, which is defined by state statute as assault committed with a dangerous weapon. Someone convicted of aggravated assault, the law states, shall be fined up to $1,000 or jailed up to six months (no mention of hard labor) or both.

To the right-wing conservatives anything that’s not MAGA approved is Marxist.

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So lets fly north to the Nutmeg state…

Raised Bill No. 5417: AN ACT CONCERNING PUBLIC SCHOOL LIBRARIES.

(b) Each local or regional board of education shall provide a reason if such board removes or restricts access to any library material belonging to the collection of a school library or media center. No board shall remove or restrict access to library material for any of the following:

(1) Partisan approval or disapproval of any library material by the board;

(2) An author's race, nationality, gender identity, sexual orientation or political or religious views;

(3) Personal discomfort, morality or political or religious views of a member or members of the board;

(4) An author's points of view concerning current events, whether international, national or local;

(5) The race, nationality, gender identity, sexual orientation or political or religious views of a protagonist or other characters or as otherwise represented in the library material; or

(6) The content of the library material is related to sexual health and addresses physical, mental, emotional or social dimensions of human sexuality, including, but not limited to, puberty, sex and relationships.

Notice #2. You cannot ban books for protected classes! That means if a book is on Black history you cannot ban just because the book is about Black people, the same goes for the other protected classes.

It is interesting to read some of the ones opposed to the bill. One person wrote…

School boards must not have the right to remove or curate age-inappropriate material from school libraries taken away from them. The boards are elected by the voters in the communities in which they

serve, and they are our representatives. Our schools should not house materials that would be illegal to broadcast on network television, and we cannot remove the will of the people -- through school boards – to be replaced by the will of the librarians.

This is an overt effort to remove parents and boards from the process and to supplant them with the whims and preferences of unelected school staff.

This bill literally codifies the right of school staff and librarians to promote their own personal political, philosophical, or sexual views over those of the community and families they serve.

Replacing the will of the people and the ability of families to make decisions for their children with the will of the state is -- quite simply -- Marxism in its purest form.

Please do not allow Rep. Rosario's Marxist bill to move forward and supplant the good will of the parents of Connecticut with The State.

It is interesting that many of these same parents are for “Parental Rights” but are willing to step in and tell other parents what their children can read!