Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) took Illinois’ Democratic secretary of state to task during a hearing on Capitol Hill Tuesday over overtly pornographic materials found in books placed in grade school libraries in the state.
At one point, Kennedy read excerpts from a book titled “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe, as well as another title “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” by George M. Johnson, both of which contain descriptions of explicit sex scenes.
Johnson’s book, in fact, includes a scene where a gay sex act is graphically described, while Kobabe’s book includes one character promising “the best blow job of [their] life” to another.
“What are you asking us to do? Are you suggesting that only librarians should decide whether the two books that I just referenced should be available to kids? Is that what you’re saying?” Kennedy asked Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias.
“No,” Giannoulias replied.
“Okay, tell me what you’re saying,” Kennedy said.
Giannoulias claimed that he isn’t for presenting pornographic materials to children but also did not want “random parents” to have the ability to “challenge the worldview” on LGBTQ issues.
“You’re getting conceptual with me,” Kennedy pushed back.
“I’m not getting conceptual,” Giannoulias responded.
“Yes, you are, yes you are, because I want to know what you’re recommending. It sounds to me like what some of you are saying is the librarians should decide who gets to see that book,” Kennedy said.
“I’m saying when individual parents are allowed to make a decision of where that line is and ‘To Kill A Mockingbird,’ which involves a rape scene, should that be pulled from our libraries? I think it becomes a slippery slope,” the Illinois official replied.
“I think you ought to think about it a little bit more before you come here—” Kennedy said before he was interrupted.
“I’ve thought about it, senator,” Giannoulias interjected.
“If you’re going to propose something, you ought to be able in 30 seconds to explain what you’re asking us to do,” the senator said.
Kennedy inquired of left-leaning advocate Cameron Samuels whether it should be solely up to librarians to determine if those books should be available in school libraries for children. Samuels argued that the passage in “All Boys Aren’t Blue” is “not erotic,” as it addresses the topic of sexual abuse, and claimed that children who do not read it would miss out on learning about an important issue.
“You come here and you say censorship is bad, and of course it’s bad. But the obvious response is, okay, you heard the books we’re talking about. Okay, we’re not talking about ‘Cather In The Rye,’ so tell me who gets to decide and all I’ve heard is the librarians, and parents have nothing to do with it,” Kennedy responded. “And if that’s your response, what planet did you just parachute in from? Or what country, more appropriately? This is not China.”
“Parents, senator, with all due respect, parents absolutely have a say. My parents were immigrants, came to this country, we never checked out books without our parents seeing what books we were reading. They encouraged us to read books,” Giannoulias replied.
“Mr. Secretary, I understand this is good for your politics back home,” Kennedy said, when then led Giannoulias to claim that it has nothing to do with politics.
“But, of course it does, it has everything to do your politics! But you came here with a problem, and I’m trying to understand the solution and you don’t have one other than to tell us that if we don’t agree with you, we’ll be on the wrong side of history,” Kennedy shot back.
The Daily Caller added:
Giannoulias said they solved the conflict over pornographic books for children in Illinois by banning “book bans.” Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill prohibiting “book bans” while standing in front of a display of books including “Gender Queer” and “This Book Is Gay,” which is seen as a “how to” guide for the LGBTQ community that gives tips on hand jobs and anal sex.
