ALA issues remain

By John Labriola - Last year, when Citrus County decided to stop paying dues to the American Library Association, Commissioner Diana Finegan called on County Administrator Steve Howard to completely end the county's relationship with the organization, citing its Marxist affiliations.

But it didn't happen. 

When the ALA was still collecting Citrus County dues two years ago, then-Library Director Eric Head drafted new Library Policies that adopted five "supporting documents" from the American Library Association, including the ALA's so-called "Library Bill of Rights." 

The documents link to the ALA's website and are just two clicks away from Drag Queen Story Hour, which includes dozens of resources on how to conduct Drag Queen Story Hours for children and encourage them to explore their "gender fluidity" with "unabashedly queer role models." 

Residents attending Tuesday's Library Advisory Board meeting demanded those sections be removed, along with adding language to ban LGBT displays. 

"We are here to protect our children," said April Wnuk of Hernando. "Some of the material that is being promoted by the ALA is pornography. One of the books is called Genderqueer, which includes graphic depictions of teens engaging in oral sex; Lawn Boy, which depicts sex between men and children; and Beyond Magenta, which includes a graphic description of a 6-year-old performing oral sex on multiple men."

Mark Conley, also of Hernando, said it was time to update the policy by removing links to the ALA website.

"I think it's trended to certain ideological directions which are inconsistent with the community values of our community," he said. 

The meeting also drew a number of leftist activists including Nena Osorio of Homosassa, who said she needs to protect her "lesbian daughter and nonbinary child" from people who feel the ALA should not dictate library policy, as well as Matthew Ciszewski of Inverness, a homosexual who claimed "it hurts my heart" that people would not want ALA policies governing their libraries. 

Dean Bales of Homosassa urged the board not to be fooled by ALA supporters. 

"These people who are supposedly against censorship only come out of the woodwork when defending perversion," he said.

After hearing about an hour of testimony from nearly two dozen residents, the LAB took no action and postponed a decision until August, which drew several expressions of surprise from the crowd.

Most agreed proposing a wait of four months is outrageous and proves the problem is not a priority for the LAB, which only has the power to recommend changes to the County Commission. They said commissioners can and should consider the issue at their next meeting.

Write your commissioners below to demand they place the issue on their May 14 agenda so these important policy changes can be made to reflect the values of our conservative community.

Diana Finegan <diana.finegan@citrusbocc.com>
Jeff Kinnard <jeff.kinnard@citrusbocc.com>
Rebecca Bays <rebecca.bays@citrusbocc.com>
Holly Davis <holly.davis@citrusbocc.com>
Ruthie Schlabach <ruthie.schlabach@citrusbocc.com>

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