There’s a false narrative out there that if you don’t want your kids to see erotica in the library children’s section, just don’t check out the books! Our team has engaged in that debate quite a bit, and the other side never seems to really get it. Well, here is a letter we received from one Livingston library patron, and a very attentive parent, whose child accidentally stumbled across this smut. Here’s their story:
I have lived in Denham Springs since 1998. I have been married to my wife for 19 years. We have two daughters, aged 14 and 12. Both of our daughters have a love for books. They love to read for learning and pleasure. They will read books about the solar system to the Harry Potter series to Manga. If we are to ask them where do they want to go on the weekend, they will say either a book store or the library.
I wanted to say all of this just to portray how they truly feel about reading. This brings me to the end of July. My wife brought both of my children to the Denham Springs / Walker Library Branch to pick out their next books they would read. My oldest went to look through the Manga books which is in the young adult section, located in the same area as the younger children’s section.
While looking around, my daughter spotted a book and picked it up, looked at it, and quickly put it down. My wife, while noticing this, went over, picked up the book and began looking through it. The book that she picked up was titled, “Let’s Talk About it: The Teen’s Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human.” When they got home from the library, my wife said she wanted to show me this graphic book that she found in the library in the young adult section.
I figured she was overreacting, and that it probably wasn’t a big deal. Let me start off by saying I am truly not a prudish person. There isn’t much that shocks or surprises me. Nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to see. When you look at the front cover, it looks like any other Manga (anime) style book, a graphic novel; innocent enough, right? I then started just flipping through the book, looking at the pictures. I saw pictures, depicting male and female masturbation, oral and anal sex, and so on. This wasn’t just text that describes these sexual acts, but actual drawings. I was at a loss to how this was on the shelves at all, let alone in the area of the library it was. I am still not sure how this isn’t classified as pornography.
I try not to cause waves, go along to get along; but I came to the conclusion that I could not sit there and say nothing at all. We went to return this book at which point I made a complaint, stating that this should not be shelved where it currently is. I was provided a form to fill out and return. I filed the official complaint, requesting that this book, not be banned, but to just be relocated to the adult section. The previous location was just too close to little children who would not be able to process what they were looking at if they came across it.
On, August 25, 2022, I received a letter from the library saying that after review, the book in question would be relocated to the adult section. I believe there needs to be a full review of all sex education books that are placed in the young adult section, to be sure there is nothing similar to this book still sitting there. I now know there has been a lot of friction over this book and others like it. This isn’t an attack on any individual or group of people. This was NOT an attempt to have books banned, but to just have certain types of books relocated to a more responsible location in our libraries.
Don’t let them change the subject
The mainstream media doesn’t want you to hear about these kinds of stories. They keep deflecting to “LGBT,” “marginalized communities,” or other nonsense. That’s not the issue. The issue is this material shouldn’t be in the library at all – much less in the children’s section.
So, next time you talk about this issue, don’t let them change the subject. It’s not censorship, it’s not LGBT, it’s not even ‘education.’ This is about only one thing: should the government be using your tax dollars to put pornography into the public library? That’s it. That’s the entire issue.
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One historical figure I frequently look to for inspiration is Winston Churchill. With little more than grit and determination, he rallied his countrymen to overcome overwhelming odds and save the world. He had a plan and a team, but in February 1941, he needed resources to further stimey the evil forces bearing down on England.
Here we are some eighty years later, and evil is again upon us. To be sure, Donald Trump will do his part in Washington, DC. However, Louisiana and her local communities are our jobs - yours and mine. It's up to us to hold the line against the Left's encroachment in Louisiana. That's the work Citizens for a New Louisiana has already been doing for nearly eight years. We've shored up our gains in Lafayette, Livingston, and St. Tammany parishes. However, many more parishes are currently unguarded! Will you help us to expand more Conservative bulwarks into other parishes?
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