Over the last few years, parents and a network of organized conservative groups have put pressure on public schools and community libraries
It's Banned Books Week! Indiana made it on to PBS News last month. Guess why!
The video at the link is captioned and has a full text transcript. No paywall. It discusses a censorship bill passed in Indiana last year (2023).
A few salient highlights:
Leah Johnson: (Indiana author, You Should See Me in a Crown) It's not about the removal of books from shelves. It's about the removal of queer people from public life. It's about making queer people ashamed and afraid and driving them back into the closet.
Max: (Indiana teen) The first book that I read wasn't the reason I realized I was trans. It was just nice to see once I realized that, and I see that represented a book. So now that it's not being represented, it might be harder for people to realize or even just feel safe in their own identity, and that's my concern.
Jim Tomes: (Republican Indiana State Senator, co-author of the bill in question) Well, maybe they should worry. [...] Maybe it should have the chilling effect [...] I will say this, if you're defending these libraries and these books, you're on the wrong side of things.
-- The bill being discussed in this video went into effect last year after a drawn-out fight in the Indiana legislature. We wrote about the fight here. (Scroll down for the reblog with the final update)
We expect next year's legislative session to go further, introducing harsher restrictions and targeting public libraries and librarians in addition to schools and teachers. Keep an ear to the ground if you're in Indiana - your library may need your help in 2025.
Incidentally, and totally unrelated, have you checked your voter registration lately? Local elections matter!
