The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Legislation aims to stop letting students read certain books.
Several Georgia Senate Republican leaders are back- ing legislation that would criminalize school librarians who let students check out
found to be obscene. State law currently shields
gatekeepers at public libraries — plus those at any school, college or sity — from criminal pros- ecution for sharing materi- als considered irredeemably sexually explicit. Senate Bill 154 by Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-alpharetta, would remove school librarians from that exemption, exposing them to a misdemeanor “of a high and aggravated nature.”
Dolezal could not be reached for comment Wednesday. But Cindy Martin, co-plaintiff in a success- ful lawsuit Forsyth County Schools over free speech connected with books in libraries there, said she’s emailing him about this issue since last year.
“I’ve kept on all of explicit books,” Martin said via text message, “sharing excerpts with him so he would see how this legislation is desperately needed for our children.” Martin and Alison Hair,
of a local group called the Mama Bears, say there are obscene books in Forsyth school libraries. A federal judge agreed with their claim that the school board their free
speech rights when it banned Hair from their meetings after she read into the pub- lic record a sexually suggestive passage from one of the books. (The board’s rules prohibited the use of “profane” language, among other behavior.)
The Georgia Library Media Association said that if the law passes, it be students rather librarians who suffer. The association represents nearly 700 school
and their president, Martha Bongiorno of Fulton County, said they are “ashamed” of supporting this bill.
“If we really care about our students and their men- tal health and helping them become well-rounded citizens of the world, we need to be able to provide the materials to do that,” Bongiorno said.
She said such a law might lead librarians to withhold appropriate books, fearing they might be considered illegal. This would lead to a lack of resources for the “most vulnerable” students, she said.
chool library books that have been attacked as obscene in recent years often dealt with gender identity, sexual orientation or race. All but one of senators who co-sponsored SB 154 are male, and all are white.
Lawmakers have tried in years past to expose librarians to penalties under the law, which makes it a crime to give minors recordings, pictures or anything printed — including books, zines and pamphlets — that is deemed “harmful” to them.
Examples under the law include depictions of sex, nudity and sadomasochistic abuse absent “literary, artistic, or scientific value for minors.”
Several influential GOP senators are among the 21 who initially have co-sponsored the bill: President Pro Tem John F. Kennedy from Macon, Majority Leader Steve Gooch from Dahlonega, Majority Caucus Chair Jason Anavitarte from Dallas and Majority Whip Randy Robertson from Cataula.
The of the Senate’s two education commit
— Clint Dixon, R-buford, over K-12 policy, and Billy Hickman, R-statesboro, over higher education — are also on board.
When they a news conference last month, Republicans who lead Georgia’s Senate did not say wanted to reengage in the culture wars that caused bitter division last year. They instead highlighted core issues like literacy. But they have subsequently engaged on divisive issues, introducing legislation would prohibit discussions about sex and gender, restrict surgeries for transgender youth and revisit the “religious liberty”