Leftist library group bewails Trump admin’s declaring book bans a ‘hoax’

Leftist librarians are losing their minds after Trump’s education department announced it will support schools removing sexually explicit books from their libraries.

The U.S. Department of…

Leftist librarians are losing their minds after Trump’s education department announced it will support schools removing sexually explicit books from their libraries.

The U.S. Department of Education said Friday it had ended “Biden’s book ban hoax.”

It dismissed complaints that “alleged that local school districts’ removal of age-inappropriate, sexually explicit, or obscene materials from their school libraries created a hostile environment for students – a meritless claim premised upon a dubious legal theory.”

Often, though not exclusively, such books feature LGBT themes.

“The department is beginning the process of restoring the fundamental rights of parents to direct their children’s education,” said Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights. “The department adheres to the deeply rooted American principle that local control over public education best allows parents and teachers alike to assess the educational needs of their children and communities.” 

The American Library Association (ALA) released a pointed response Sunday.  

“In their cruel and headlong effort to terminate protections from discrimination for LGBTQIA+ students and students of color, the Department of Education advances the demonstrably false claim that book bans are not real,” ALA wrote.  

“Book bans are real. Ask students who cannot access literary classics required for college or parents whose children can’t check out a book about gay penguins in their school library. Ask school librarians who have lost their jobs for protecting the freedom to read. While a parent has the right to guide their own children’s reading, their beliefs and prejudices should not dictate what another parent chooses for their own children.”  

If this debate were over books such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar, most Americans would likely agree with parents and children’s freedom to read. But the reality is, these books are licentious enough to make most grown-ups clutch their pearls.  

Parents and community members object to titles such as:  

  • The Bluest Eye, which contains a scene where an 11-year-old girl is raped and impregnated by her own father  
  • All Boys Aren’t Blue, which graphically depicts sex, incest and rape  
  • Looking for Alaska, which includes sexually graphic language, pornography and substance abuse  
  • Gender Queer, a graphic novel that contains intercourse, masturbation and pedophilia   
  • The Glass Castle, which portrays alcoholism, prostitution, violence and the sexual abuse of children by both strangers and relatives. It also features vulgar language, including multiple F-bombs and the use of words such as “f*ggot” and the n-word 

Why the ALA and other likeminded groups insist on keeping such books in school libraries is unclear.  

And while leftist activists grab their pitchforks to defend the “freedom to read,” they forget the United States has a long legal history opposed to obscenity – particularly as it relates to children.  

Speech is not protected by the First Amendment if it is considered obscene. A 1973 Supreme Court ruling established the following definitions for obscenity:  

  • appeals to prurient interests according to contemporary adult community standards  
  • depicts or describes sex or sexual conduct in a patently offensive manner according to contemporary adult community standards  
  • lacks serious artistic, political, literary, or scientific value  

“Prurient” is defined as “a shameful or morbid interest in nudity, sex, or excretion” or materials that “excite lustful thoughts.”  

In addition, distributing obscene materials to a child younger than 16 is a crime punishable by the federal government. 

Nevertheless, the ALA seems determined to paint sexually explicit materials as a constitutional right – and to take pot shots at the new Trump administration simultaneously.  

“The new administration is not above the U.S. Constitution,” ALA’s statement continued. “Federal judges have repeatedly ruled that removing books from school library shelves based on the objection of a person or group, or due to prejudice against a group – book banning – is unconstitutional censorship that violates students’ First Amendment rights.”  

Schools may be removing or restricting explicit books from their libraries, but nothing prevents students or parents from obtaining them via other sources. Therefore, by definition, they’re not being banned. 

It also doesn’t help ALA’s case that the most passionate objectors to such books are the very parents whose children would “lose” their right to read them.  

Book bans aren’t about stifling a point of view. They’re about upholding one of society’s most basic standards: that young children shouldn’t be subjected to extremely graphic and violent sexual material. 

Even in freedom-loving America, we aren’t free to steal or murder or commit perjury. And we shouldn’t be free to defile innocent young minds either.