Amid a national wave of attempted book banning on LGBTQ subject matter, a North Dakota House panel heard arguments on a bill that would prohibit “sexually explicit” content – including depictions of sexual or gender identity – from public libraries, and would criminalize librarians who continue to display it.
FILE - Amanda Darrow, director of youth, family and education programs at the Utah Pride Center, poses with books that have been the subject of complaints from parents in recent weeks, Dec. 16, 2021, in Salt Lake City. Books containing sexually explicit content including depictions of sexual or gender identity would be banned from North Dakota public libraries under legislation that state lawmakers heard arguments on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023.
The proposal comes amid a national wave of Republican-backed laws to ban books that feature LGBTQ subject matter — though usually those bills have been limited to school libraries, not public ones. House Majority Leader Mike Lefor, of Dickinson, introduced the bill and said public libraries currently contain books that have “disturbing and disgusting" content, including ones that describe virginity as a silly label and assert that gender is fluid.
Richard argued the books might have beneficial knowledge about contraceptives, body image and abusive relationships, but many sections provide information that she said was harmful for minors. Obscenity is a narrow, well-defined category of unprotected speech that excludes any work with serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value, Schuler said. Few, if any, books have been deemed obscene, and the standard for restraining a library’s ability to distribute a book are even more stringent, Schuler added.Library Director Christine Kujawa at Bismarck Veterans Memorial Public Library said the library has a book with two little hamsters on the cover.
In addition to banning depictions of “sexual identity” and"gender identity," the measure specifies 10 other things that library books cannot visually depict, including “sexual intercourse," “sexual preference” and “sexual perversion,” — though it does not define any of those terms. The proposal does not apply to books that have “serious artistic significance” or “materials used in science courses,” among other exceptions.
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North Dakota weighs ban of 'sexually explicit' library booksAmid a national wave of attempted book banning on LGBTQ subject matter, a North Dakota House panel heard arguments on a bill that would prohibit “sexually explicit” content – including depictions of sexual or gender identity – from public libraries, and would criminalize librarians who continue to display it
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