Fed up with the easily accessible garbage on public bookshelves, Hannah Rees formed Clean Up Alabama. The organization believes it is the job of parents to determine when and how their children are exposed to sexual topics.
But many Alabama libraries have been stocking their shelves with board books intended to confuse children about sexuality and expose them to material that is inappropriate for them.
"We have 'Bye Bye, Binary,' which is about you aren't born with a binary; you don't have to be binary," Rees notes. "And then you have 'Being You: A First Conversation About Gender,' which teaches kids that boys can be girls and girls can be boys. Lots of transitioning stories" geared toward 2- to 5-year-olds can also be found.
For minors older than that, the content, she says, gets pornographic. Many small-town libraries have already moved those books to the adult section, but others are resisting the establishment of solid, moral standards.
"We plan to do everything in our power to get these books out of the children's sections, out of access to minors [and] into a place where adults can access them, but children cannot without parental consent," Rees relays. "Right now, kids can just come by and pick these books right off the shelf."
Most states have laws that specifically exempt museums and libraries from prosecution for exposing children to pornography. So, concerned citizens who want to clean up their libraries can start there by talking to their elected representatives about getting those laws changed.
