Inside The Christian Campaign To Ban Books In Texas

The Washington Post has done a deep dive into the campaign to ban library books in Texas. Here’s a bit about what’s happening is just one town:

In January, commissioners voted to dissolve the existing library board — whose members came from Friends of the Library groups and the Women’s Culture Club — and created a reconstituted board of mostly political appointees, including many of the citizens who had complained about books.

A retired physician, Richard Day, a Democrat, was denied a seat despite having a master’s degree in library science and experience managing the rare books collection at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, he said.

Last month the board voted to close meetings to the public, which could violate the Texas open meeting laws, experts have said. Panel members often stop to pray over questions brought up in meetings, and until the Lord answers, they can’t resolve them, according to county officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they feared repercussions.

Read the full article. There’s SO much more.

Freedom of expression protects our right to read and learn free from viewpoint-based censorship.

Book bans in public libraries—which are central to our abilities to explore ideas and encounter new perspectives—are attempts to try and suppress that right. https://t.co/p5TfD3fA9a

— ACLU (@ACLU) April 18, 2022