Autauga County turns out for library debate on LGBTQ-themed books
People packed the Autauga County Commission chambers Tuesday night in Prattville to take sides in a months-long dispute over the public library’s policies, a disagreement that mostly concerns children’s and teen’s books with LGBTQ themes.
About 24 people spoke to the five-member commission, and most, about 17, agreed with a group called Clean Up Alabama, which calls for tighter controls at the Autauga-Prattville library on books on sexual orientation and gender identity.
About seven speakers spoke in support of Read Freely Alabama, who formed in response to what they say is an effort by Clean Up Alabama to ban books that express a supportive or affirmative view of people who identify as LGBTQ.
After 90 minutes of comments, the county commission appointed three new members to the Autauga-Prattville library board to replace three who recently resigned. The commission now has four new appointees on the seven-member library board. The Prattville City Council has appointed one member and has two vacancies yet to fill.
County commissioners did not publicly take sides in Tuesday night’s debate. They nominated and approved the three new board members with no discussion about their qualifications. The new board appointees did not speak.
The Autauga County dispute is part of a statewide controversy mixing politics with library policies that has involved Gov. Kay Ivey and state library officials.
After the meeting, County Commission Chairman Jay Thompson said he has tried to take a balanced approach. Thompson said the commission received more than 30 resumes for the library board spots, unpaid positions that he said until recently have been held for prolonged terms by a few willing public servants because of a lack of interest.
Angie Hayden, a leader with Read Freely Alabama and others who supported that group’s view, said the commission was not transparent about the appointment process and failed to follow a traditional policy of allowing the library board to recommend its new members. Thompson said the former board members did not make any recommendations.
Hayden said she was concerned that the new appointments, which give the commission-appointed members a majority on the library board, would enact policies that exclude books that do not fit what she and other Read Freely supporters described as the narrow viewpoints of Clean Up Alabama. Hayden said the library has never allowed sexually explicit books in the children’s section.
“There’s a balance between pleasing the Clean Up Alabama people and also not violating the Constitution,” Hayden said. “What the Clean Up people really want, however, is for anything that is affirmative of LGBTQ families, like ‘Heather Has Two Mommies,’ to be taken out of the children’s section. And those are books that are not sexually explicit.”
Hayden said the former members of the library board were responsive to concerns about protecting children and teens.
Some who spoke in support of Clean Up Alabama invoked the Bible. One speaker said God established the principle of restricting knowledge with the story of Adam and Eve and forbidden fruit. Some speakers talked about protecting children from what they said were perverted lifestyles.
Others said about half of Autauga County residents are not affiliated with a church and that certain religious viewpoints should not dictate library policy.
Sarah Sanchez, a member of Clean Up Alabama, said the group’s mission is to protect children and teens from books with explicit sexual content or sexualized messages. Sanchez said leaders who control library policy must be proactive.
“Leaders in our community have been standing by, claiming they have no right to judge what is right or what it wrong when it comes to the innocence of our children,” Sanchez told the commission. “However, this is not a neutral issue. It is either right or wrong that our taxes are used to purchase such explicit books for our kids. So neutrality is default compliance in the face of this evil.”
One example of a children’s book that sparked disagreement is “Red: A Crayon’s Story,” by Michael Hall. It is about a blue crayon with a red wrapping.
“The crayon book was a transgender allegory,” Sanchez told the commission. “And there’s nothing explicit in it, but it was clearly a picture of a story about maybe you’re not really a boy. Maybe you’re not really a girl.”
Hayden said that illustration shows how Clean Up Alabama is going overboard to restrict books.
“I think they are looking so hard to be offended that they are creating things to be offended by,” Hayden said. “To the point where they are demanding a book about a red crayon wanting to be blue is inappropriate for children.”
County Commission Chairman Thompson said he had nothing negative to say about those who have served on the library board.
“My viewpoint from the very beginning is that sexually explicit books don’t need to be available to minors,” Thompson said. “And that’s kind of what I had asked early on — is there someway we can make sure a minor cannot pick up a book that they don’t need to pick up?”
Thompson said he was not sure if those safeguards have been adequate.
“It depends on who you ask,” Thompson said. “I haven’t personally walked in there and picked up a book, so I’m not going to comment either way on that. But I know there’s pushback on both sides.”
The new appointees named by the commission Tuesday night are Logan Strock, Ray Boles, and Rachel Daniels. The commission earlier appointed Doug Darr. The Prattville City Council appointed Christine Sellers and has two additional appointments to make.
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