Florida Ditches American Library Association for Promoting Explicit Books to Children

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA — Florida has turned the page on the American Library Association (ALA) as the 150-year-old organization continues to advocate for using taxpayer dollars to put sexually explicit books in the hands of young school children. 

The Florida Department of State has announced that it will not allow any grants associated with the ALA or its affiliates, Politico reports. Other red states – including Alabama, Wyoming, Missouri and Texas – preceded Florida in severing ties with the organization. Republicans in Arizona, Idaho, Illinois, Georgia, Louisiana and South Carolina have pushed for similar measures in their respective state legislatures.

In addition to the decision by the state, three Florida counties – Collier, Citrus and Hernando – have already left the association. This summer, U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Mike Braun (R-IN) called for an investigation into the ALA for “actively discriminating” against a Christian bookseller. 

The ALA awards grants to library systems across the country and provides librarians with professional guidance and book recommendations. 

ALA: AGE IS JUST A NUMBER

The organization has been a leading opponent of parents attempting to remove sexually explicit books from public school libraries – labeling such efforts as “book banning” and “censorship.” 

In many cases, the challenged books have been recommended by the ALA, which effectively shields individual school libraries from any disciplinary action stemming from what might otherwise be considered inappropriate book selection.

In fact, the ALA’s Library Bill of Rights states that the organization “opposes all attempts to restrict access to library services, materials, and facilities based on the age of library users.”

Despite claiming nothing should be deemed inappropriate for children, the ALA seems to recognize the unpopularity of this stance. In 2020, Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, called for “sustained messaging that reframes this issue that takes it away from the idea that these [books] are… sexually inappropriate for minors.”

Instead, Caldwell-Stone recommended librarians promote such books as “diverse materials and programming that are about inclusion, fairness and protection of everybody’s right to see themselves and their families reflected in the books in the public library.”

SELF-PROCLAIMED “MARXIST LESBIAN”

Current ALA President Emily Drabinski made national news last year when she bragged about being a “Marxist lesbian” who believes in “collective power.” Republican politicians subsequently teed off on the tweet, which Drabinksi later deleted due to the negative blowback.

“Texas should be leading the fight against dangerous Marxist ideology — not subsidizing it,” Texas state Rep. Brian Harrison tweeted in response to Drabinski’s admission of sympathizing with authoritarian communist ideology. Wyoming Rep. John Bear, accused the ALA of “creating a sexualized child at an earlier age” and “turning libraries into activist training grounds.”