The world has always been a dangerous place, but safe wholesome places are increasingly fewer. It’s accepted that the internet is a vile cesspool of depravity and children should never be left unattended in the wild west cyberspace. We have sadly resigned ourselves that the entertainment industry is peddling filth and self-indulgence above all, so children must be closely monitored in their presence. Churches should be safe for children, but too many of them are succumbing to the LGBTQ+ siren song. Schools should also be safe, but progressive philosophies that assert that perversity is normal are seeping into education everywhere, even in Alabama.

The latest battlefield to be uncovered is public libraries where left-leaning librarians are hiding behind freedom of speech to indoctrinate children about perversion, and worse, they are committed to doing so without parents knowing. However, vigilant parents around the state have noticed and have challenged local public libraries about age-inappropriate sexually explicit books being available to children. These parents didn’t ask to ban any of these patently obscene books, but rather simply asked them to be removed from children’s sections. Incredibly, the otherwise silent or stealthy librarians have steadfastly refused!

Without digging into the indecent details, shouldn’t we all be able to agree that topics of sexuality and especially graphic depictions of sex acts, normal or abnormal, are wholly inappropriate for children? Apparently not. Where does this intransigence come from that resists the values of the vast majority of Americans? Militant LGBTQ+ activists obviously want to impose their propaganda on everyone, but they only provide the illicit materials. The rational for rejecting parents’ wishes and societal norms comes from the American Library Association (ALA).

The ALA champions its Library Bill of Rights. The Library Bill of Rights contains expected nominal declarations of equal access for all and prohibitions of any discrimination, but it goes further with murky assertions. It demands diversity in all library collections, which sounds innocuous, but what it explains is that anything goes and no materials should be excluded. That could be just an assertion of freedom of speech, but that does not obviate any duty to protect minors from harmful materials.

Certainly, a library upholding freedom of speech will house information offensive to someone, but that does not mean children should be exposed to sexually explicit materials that plainly violate obscenity laws. The ALA Library Bill of Rights adamantly asserts, “Expurgating library materials is a violation of the Library Bill of Rights.” Expurgate means “to cleanse of something morally harmful, offensive, or erroneous” so they are declaring that nothing “morally harmful, offensive, or erroneous” can be removed. Or, quite simply, smut can stay.

The second plank of the ALA’s Library Bill of Rights is troublesome and actually sinister. It specifically declares: “Library policies and procedures that effectively deny minors equal and equitable access to all library resources available to other users violate the Library Bill of Rights. The American Library Association opposes all attempts to restrict access to library services, materials, and facilities based on the age of library users.” What they mean is that regardless of age, even children must be given access to whatever filth the library collects; these librarians are clearly stating that they are coming after our children. And by their actions, they rebuff any parental oversight.

The Alabama Public Library Service (APLS) and many Alabama public libraries are members of the ALA, which has prompted Alabama Governor Kay Ivey to send the APLS Director, Dr. Nancy C. Pack, a letter asking her to explain the APLS affiliation with the ALA. The new ALA president, Emily Drabinski, is a self-declared “Lesbian Marxist” who unabashedly proclaims the ALA should be a proponent of Marxism and the radical LGBTQ+ agenda. How does this plainly anti-American and anti-family person wield such influence, and why is any Alabama Library affiliated with her?

Thankfully, Alabama State Representative Susan Dubose, District 45, has initiated an effort for Alabama to disaffiliate from the ALA, but more must be done. This invasive encroachment of perversion into our public libraries happened on Dr. Pack’s watch. She didn’t stop Drag Queens from stalking children at public libraries, but she intervened to prevent conservative-leaning events featuring avowed Christian Kirk Cameron and collegiate champion swimmer Riley Gaines from occurring in public libraries. Aside from her not so discreet efforts to defend progressive indoctrination and obstruct conservative ideas, Dr. Pack has failed to protect children from obscene harmful materials; she must be fired immediately!

A tenacious group of Baldwin County parents and grandparents has discovered at least 29 highly questionable books available to children in public libraries in the most conservative county in Alabama – no child is safe anywhere. Many of these books are grotesquely sexually explicit and clearly violate obscenity laws, which state that “the average person, applying contemporary community standards, would find that the material, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest; and the material depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct, actual or simulated, normal or perverted. “ So, why are no district attorneys enforcing these obscenity laws?!

Perhaps you have not seen it yet, but this extreme LGBTQ+ filth, like unseen mold, is in your community. Demand your local district attorney protect the innocent and start enforcing obscenity laws. Call Governor Ivey and your legislator and tell them to clean up the APLS or defund it before it does anymore damage. While Democrats (who actually don’t bother to check on these books) will howl censorship, these are NOT unreasonable demands – but pushing access to immoral pornographic information for children is unconscionable! There are NO limits to protecting children, so these behind-the-scenes enablers of child predators must be stopped NOW!!!

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea” Mark 9:42.

Pete Riehm is a conservative activist and columnist in south Alabama. Email him at peteriehm@bellsouth.net or read all his columns at http://www.renewamerica.com/.