Library Rejects My Formal Requests to Remove 2 Pornographic Teen Novels
Cape Girardeau Public Library rendered its decision last week on my “Citizen’s Request for Reconsideration of Library Materials” for Gender Queer and This Book Is Gay, which I filled out as a step librarians told me to take. The goal was to have these books removed from the library, and the decision was “no.” As the letter below reveals, the director has canned-response reasons why, according to her, both books will remain on the shelves until at least September 2024. My next step transpires next Thursday, September 7, which is when I plan to attend the library’s board meeting.
The word “policy” can be found five times in the letter. The problem with policy being the hill on which the library is willing to die is that policy does not create people; people create policy. Bad policy, therefore, should never dictate what good people do. When people recognize bad policy, they should change it. Books such as Gender Queer, which has pornographic images of oral sex and masturbation—a book young children can take out and horny grown men can look at under the guise of enjoying a “memoir”— do not belong in the library. Books such as This Book Is Gay, which teaches children where to touch for, according to the author, what feels good sexually, then gives them the steps to downloading sex apps and using them to meet up with strangers, are dangerous and have no place in the teen section of the library or, let’s be real, anywhere. There was a time it didn’t take filling out forms at a library to make that case. It was called common sense and decency, and it didn’t require a case. The people who approved of children being exposed to pornography were labeled sick. Somehow, now, they’ve become “starred,” “high quality” individuals, along with their books.
I have made it rather clear here, here, here, here, and here that these concerns are real, and turning the other way is not an option.
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The letter states that “professional groups” have given these books a “starred review,” which “denotes a book of distinction or particularly high quality.” Unsurprisingly, the letter does not detail all the controversy these so-called starred pieces of literature has caused or that they top the list of most banned and/or most challenged books or that states have gotten rid of them—dozens of districts within those states caring more about kids than sexual miscreants, pedophiles, and groomers. Obviously, I’m not the only one, as the letter states the latest form of reconsideration was as recent as September, and I know there have been other complaints prior to that one.
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