• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Towleroad Gay News

Gay Blog Towleroad: More than gay news | gay men

  • Politics
  • Health
  • Travel
  • Gay Pride
  • Music
  • Sports
  • Law/Justice
  • Celebrities
  • Men
  • Space
  • Science
  • Gay Iconography
  • Madonna
  • Books
  • Monkeypox
  • Film/TV

Missouri Bill Would Fine, Jail Librarians Who Allow Kids to Attend Drag Queen Story Hour

John Wright January 17, 2020 Leave a Comment

Screen Shot 2020 01 16 at 9.00.36 PM

A Republican Missouri state lawmaker wants to eradicate Drag Queen Story Hours in the state by fining or jailing librarians who allow minors to access “age-inappropriate sexual materials.”

Last week, Rep. Ben Baker filed House Bill 2044, which he is calling the “Parental Oversight of Public Libraries Act.”

“In some places — St. Louis, Kansas City and I think St. (Joseph) — they’ve had these drag queen story hours and that’s something that I take objection to and I think a lot of parents do,” Baker told the Kansas City Star. “That’s where in a public space, our kids could be exposed to something that’s age-inappropriate. That’s what I’m trying to tackle.

“Some of those events are open from ages 1 to teen years,” Baker added. “I don’t think a 2-, 3-, 4-year-old is prepared to grapple with those ideas and I don’t think they should be subjected to that just by walking through the library.”

According to the Star, “Baker took it one step further by alleging the story hours to be a public safety issue, saying they have ‘drawn child predators, pedophiles’ in the past.”

Here’s how Baker’s bill defines “age-inappropriate sexual material”:

Screen Shot 2020 01 17 at 4.48.12 AM

Baker’s proposal would require Missouri’s public libraries to establish parental review boards, which would hold public hearings before determining “whether any sexual material provided to the public … is age-inappropriate sexual material.”

The boards could then order that “age-inappropriate sexual material” be made inaccessible to minors. Any library staff member who violated such an order would face misdemeanor charges and up to one year in jail. And public libraries that run afoul of the law would lose state funding.

Hemant Mehta at the Friendly Atheist notes that the ramifications of Baker’s bill would likely go beyond Drag Queen Story Hour:

In theory, then, a heavily Christian community could elect a board that says books featuring LGBTQ characters are “inappropriate.” And then if librarians allow kids to check out Heather Has Two Mommies or I Am Jazz — books meant to help kids understand LGBTQ identities — they would be severely punished for it. All because a group of conservative parents with sticks up their asses decide to play censor instead of letting kids follow their own curiosity or deferring to the wisdom and expertise of professional librarians. 

This could also backfire. Can you imagine the outcry if a progressive community elects a group of parents who decide to ban child checkouts of all Christian books — including the Bible itself — because the text is full of incest and rape?

James Tager, PEN America’s deputy director of free expression research and policy, told the Washington Post that Baker’s bill is an attempt “a shockingly transparent attempt to legalize book banning in the state of Missouri.”

“This act is clearly aimed at empowering small groups of parents to appoint themselves as censors over their state’s public libraries,” Tager said. “Books wrestling with sexual themes, books uplifting LGBTQIA+ characters, books addressing issues such as sexual assault — all of these books are potentially on the chopping block if this bill is passed.”

Tager added that “every reader and writer in the country should be horrified, absolutely horrified, at this bill.”

Topics: towleroad

  • New House map sets stage for Brooklyn slugfest headlined by Bill de Blasio, Mondaire Jones

    New House map sets stage for Brooklyn slugfest headlined by Bill de Blasio, Mondaire Jones

    Published by New York Daily News NEW YORK — The ink has barely dried on New York’s much-revised House map, but a radically transformed 10th Congressional District has set the stage for an unruly political scramble …Read More »
  • Kate McKinnon Leaving SNL; What? Also Aidy Bryant, Pete Davidson  and Kyle Mooney Set to Depart After This Season.  Season Finale TONIGHT

    Kate McKinnon Leaving SNL; What? Also Aidy Bryant, Pete Davidson and Kyle Mooney Set to Depart After This Season. Season Finale TONIGHT

      Published by InsideHook   By Tobias Carroll The current season of Saturday Night Live featured the show’s largest cast ever, with 21 different comedians appearing on screen at various points during the year. Based on …Read More »
  • Explicit Photos To Blame? ‘Speechless’ Madonna Is Outraged After Being BLOCKED From Instagram Live

    Explicit Photos To Blame? ‘Speechless’ Madonna Is Outraged After Being BLOCKED From Instagram Live

    Published by Radar Online KCS Presse / MEGA Madonna was in utter shock to discover that Instagram had blocked her from going live, sharing a video of the awkward moment she found out on Friday. “What …Read More »
  • US archbishop bans Pelosi from communion over abortion rights support

    US archbishop bans Pelosi from communion over abortion rights support

    Published by AFP Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, a lifelong Catholic, has been barred from holy communion by the archbishop of San Francisco over her support for abortion San Francisco (AFP) – The …Read More »
Previous Post: « Ala. Superintendent Apologizes After Baseball Players Scream ‘F**k the Faggots’ Outside Gay Couple’s Home: VIDEO
Next Post: ‘Project Runway’ Host Karlie Kloss Addresses Contestant’s ‘Kushner’ Dig, Says She Won’t Vote Trump in 2020: WATCH »

Primary Sidebar

News

  • Harris, White House Spox Rip Oklahoma For Passing Near-Total Abortion Ban Weeks After Leaked Supreme Court Opinion

    Harris, White House Spox Rip Oklahoma For Passing Near-Total Abortion Ban Weeks After Leaked Supreme Court Opinion

  • Trump pays $110,000 fine for blocking New York state tax probe

    Trump pays $110,000 fine for blocking New York state tax probe

  • Erdogan demands concessions to back Swedish, Finnish NATO membership

    Erdogan demands concessions to back Swedish, Finnish NATO membership

  • Zelensky says Ukraine has ‘broken the backbone’ of the Russian army

    Zelensky says Ukraine has ‘broken the backbone’ of the Russian army

Break

  • Evan Spiegel & Miranda Kerr Pay Off $10 Million In Loans Of Otis College’s Graduating Class

    Evan Spiegel & Miranda Kerr Pay Off $10 Million In Loans Of Otis College’s Graduating Class

  • Vladimir Putin’s Daughter SECRETLY Living In Germany With Man Named Igor Zelensky

    Vladimir Putin’s Daughter SECRETLY Living In Germany With Man Named Igor Zelensky

  • Tucker Carlson: Voice of white America’s outrage and fears

    Tucker Carlson: Voice of white America’s outrage and fears

  • Viola Davis was called by director’s maid’s name

    Viola Davis was called by director’s maid’s name

RSS Partner Links

  • Birthday Sluts
  • Sunday Comics
  • Speedo Sunday
  • Trainer Day + Sniffing Out The Scoop On Poppers + NJ Trucker-Congressman Proposes STRICTER Don't Say Gay Bill + MORE! — 6-PACK
  • 'Barry' Actor Anthony Carrigan Says He Was Told to Quit Acting Over Alopecia
  • Adele Sits Courtside with Boyfriend Rich Paul at NBA Palyoffs Game
  • 'Sex & the City' Author Candace Bushnell, 63, Dating 21-Year-Old Model
  • Ashley Graham Reveals She Nearly Died Giving Birth to Twins at Home
  • Hot Slut Of The Day!

Most Recent

  • Activists Rally, Make Case For Thailand Marriage Equality; Present Rewritten Version of  Constitutional Court’s Ruling On Marriage Law

    Activists Rally, Make Case For Thailand Marriage Equality; Present Rewritten Version of Constitutional Court’s Ruling On Marriage Law

  • New House map sets stage for Brooklyn slugfest headlined by Bill de Blasio, Mondaire Jones

    New House map sets stage for Brooklyn slugfest headlined by Bill de Blasio, Mondaire Jones

  • Kate McKinnon Leaving SNL; What? Also Aidy Bryant, Pete Davidson  and Kyle Mooney Set to Depart After This Season.  Season Finale TONIGHT

    Kate McKinnon Leaving SNL; What? Also Aidy Bryant, Pete Davidson and Kyle Mooney Set to Depart After This Season. Season Finale TONIGHT

  • Explicit Photos To Blame? ‘Speechless’ Madonna Is Outraged After Being BLOCKED From Instagram Live

    Explicit Photos To Blame? ‘Speechless’ Madonna Is Outraged After Being BLOCKED From Instagram Live

  • US archbishop bans Pelosi from communion over abortion rights support

    US archbishop bans Pelosi from communion over abortion rights support

  • Giuliani meets with U.S. House Jan. 6 panel, CNN reports

    Giuliani meets with U.S. House Jan. 6 panel, CNN reports

  • WHO working on more monkeypox guidance as cases rise – senior adviser

    WHO working on more monkeypox guidance as cases rise – senior adviser

Most Commented

Social

Twitter @tlrd | Facebook | Instagram @tlrd
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2022 · Log in