In the Netherlands and other European democracies, comprehensive sex education starts at an early age. Dutch officials reason that the more youths know about sex, the more likely they are to avoid unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases.
But in the United States, the Religious Right has a radically different viewpoint. Far-right white evangelical Christians who oppose abortion often oppose any time of sex education.
According to the Washington Post’s Hannah Natanson, MAGA Republicans in state legislatures have been pushing bills threatening librarians with either heavy fines or prison time if they give minors a book they consider “obscene.” And material doesn’t have to be explicit to fit the Religious Right’s definition of obscenity.
In an article published on May 18, Natanson reports that “at least seven states” in the U.S. have, in the “last two years,” passed laws that “permit criminal prosecution of school and library personnel” for “providing sexually explicit, obscene or ‘harmful’ books to children.”
According to Natanson, “Another dozen […]
This is not a Democracy if books are banned in libraries. Librarians have the right and obligation to kep their shelves filled with all the available books for the truth to be read.
One would think that the concept that youth would actually read a book, any book, would be a cause for joy. Sadly not.