Alabama librarians should face jail for giving LGTBQ books to kids: Group

Alabama librarians should face jail for giving LGTBQ books to kids: Group

Librarians in Alabama should face the possibility of jail time if they offer LGBTQ books to kids, according to a newly formed state group pushing to remove porn and obscenity from libraries’ children’s sections.

Clean Up Alabama, a Prattville-based nonprofit organization registered Aug. 14 with the Alabama secretary of state’s office, believes libraries should no longer be exempt from the Alabama Anti-Obscenity Enforcement Act, according to an email sent to the group’s newsletter subscribers, Alabama Political Reporter reported Thursday.

Libraries are exempt from the law’s provisions, which also spares offenders from penalties resulting from distributing or possessing material harmful to minors if the offense is committed under a “bona fide medical, scientific, educational, legislative, judicial or law enforcement purpose.”

Violators of the law face up to a $10,000 fine and up to one year in a county jail.

Clean Up Alabama posted about the law on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, on Aug. 16, claiming librarians could “legally display sex toys, and possibly give them to kids without prosecution.”:

The organization, which began as Clean Up Prattville, describes itself as being “dedicated to protecting the innocence of Alabama’s children by advocating for the removal of pornography and obscenity from our libraries’ children’s sections.”

Prattville residents flooded the city council’s meeting on Wednesday to debate the controversial contract that would have effectively eliminated the children’s section of the Autauga-Prattville Public Library.

The council voted down the contract, according to Alabama Political Reporter.