On Thursday night, a five-member panel met at Ridgecrest Baptist Church for a panel discussion titled “Clean, Not Obscene” to discuss the perception that libraries are pushing pornography to minors. did.
State Rep. Rick Rehm (R-Dothan) was one of the panelists and argued that books being challenged across the state are being placed in libraries “to indoctrinate children.”
“This is top-down, not bottom-up,” Rehm said. “They're putting these books in your library so your kids can see them and read them, and most importantly, without you even realizing it.”
Rehm has participated in numerous conferences at the Alabama Public Library Service as these themes are promoted, as well as a similar panel at Calvary Baptist Church in Dothan.
Christopher Calvin Reed, co-host of Huntsville's far-right radio show The Daily Controversy, moderated the forum and previously moderated a forum in Calvary.
Reed expressed concern that the number of LGBTQ youth is increasing while the percentage of evangelical Christian youth is decreasing. He said 20 percent of young people between the ages of 12 and 17 now identify as LGBTQ+, compared to about 6 percent a few years ago.
“This is a real problem, kids being forced into situations like this,” Reed said. “Naturally she doesn't grow 400%. She does it because of social pressure.”
Dothan physician Calvin Reed recalled that when he was “eight, nine, 10 years old, I would watch cartoons without touching on anything sexual.'' He went on to talk about the North American Erotic Association, which openly advocates for pedophilia and lowering the age of consent, and suggested a connection to the library book under discussion, but not directly. It had not been done.
John Ismoe, senior adviser at the Roy Moore Moral Law Foundation in Montgomery, said pornography is “chilling away at the foundations” of God's law in society and that libraries don't need to add certain books to their libraries. He reiterated the common arguments of those opposed to books. Therefore, you can avoid books that you find offensive.
He also expressed support for a bill introduced by Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Josephine) that would allow governing bodies to remove library commissioners by a majority vote.
Ridgecrest Pastor Paul Thompson said Christians are largely responsible for the problem and are “marginalizing (themselves).”
“We have allowed our voices to be silenced,” Thompson said. “Either we have been passive or indifferent. Or maybe we just didn't know… At what point, as Christians, can we say enough is enough?”
Lynn Miley, an associate pastor at Westwood Presbyterian Church, said, “Those of us who have actually looked up these books in the library claim that these books are pornographic.” (a photograph, video, text, etc., for which the intended object is intended).” Sexual arousal and arousal. ”
However, the panel as a whole seemed to keep confusing books with sexual content with books with LGBTQ content. Additionally, most of the books reviewed by APR that were challenged in libraries across the state were often sexually explicit, detailing abuse or recounting the authors' own life experiences. There doesn't seem to be anything included that would be considered pornographic. Some books may be considered pornographic, but taken as a whole they are not considered pornographic.
The idea that these books qualify as pornography is an important distinction as book challengers continue to cite research on the harmful effects of pornography, but research has shown that the challenged books It doesn't deal directly with it, but with a whole series of other media that the general public is likely to recognize. As porn.
In fact, the panel discussion began with a 10-minute video from Certified Mental Health Coordinator Joanne Landis about how “explicitly sexually explicit content harms minors,” in which she said that children states that introducing pornography to women is a grooming tactic. Book-challenging groups, including Clean Up Alabama and Moms for Liberty, have previously said librarians groom children to include challenging materials.
Much attention will be focused on how the state legislature will respond to this situation this session.
