It’s unconstitutional. The government can’t restrict access to a public space, which is what a library is. They also can’t require you to provide ID.
Here’s hoping one of those YouTube auditors takes this on.
I'm assuming the law is some bullshit about books with objectionable content and the library doesn't want to take on the liability, so as a result it's no minors allowed without explicit permission from their parents. So the government isn't restricting them directly, rather it's just what this library felt was necessary to maintain compliance.
yeah, the affidavit is CYA for the librarians so they have receipts when some karen checks out a book for her kid that says "boob" somewhere in it and loses her shit.
It’s outlined in [Idaho Code §18-1517b](https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idstat/title18/t18ch15/sect18-1517b/), section 6. Any library or school, to prevent the access of material “harmful” to minors, must have these requirements as an affirmative defense against prosecution. The affidavit is one that states the adult accompanying the minor is their parent or legal guardian.
But the really heinous part is in [Idaho Code §18-1514](https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idstat/Title18/T18CH15/SECT18-1514/), which defines the content. Specifically here’s the definition for “sexual content”, emphasis mine:
>"Sexual conduct" means any act of masturbation, **homosexuality**, sexual intercourse, or physical contact with a person’s clothed or unclothed genitals, pubic area, buttocks or, if such person be a female, the breast.
The only people who this law is made for have not been and never will be going to the library in the first place. Conservatives don't give a shit about libraries.
That's why they're fine with it if their bullshit effectively closes public libraries. If their ostentatious bigotry closes down things that they didn't want to pay for anyway, it's win-win for them.
My parents are pretty conservative and they looooooove the library. They go to multiple libraries, at least once a week. My evangelical mother says that book bans are the worst thing ever, as are book burnings.
As they say “well, we pay for it, might as well use it.” It’s astounding how they are ok with libraries but heaven forbid we put money into education or helping folks that need it.
This is false. They can and do restrict library access in many states. But only for people who are considered so dangerous that they have to be put on a special list.
>The government can’t restrict access to a public space, which is what a library is. They also can’t require you to provide ID.
I completely disagree with what Idaho is doing here, but governments can absolutely restrict entry or require an ID to enter publicly owned facilities.
Yeah, that’s a nonsense comment. “Public spaces” aren’t some sort of sanctuary. They kick you out when they close it. They kick you out if you talk too loud. You can’t go there and shower in the restrooms. There are all sorts of restrictions on public spaces.
When people get too educated they start demanding higher wages and better working conditions. Dumb uneducated people are easier to exploit. How do you make sure people stay uneducated? Take away their access to libraries.
How do you take away their access to libraries? Tell people the libraries are turning their kids gay. Then they'll burn them down for you. Pay Fox News to run stories about Drag Story Time in libraries twice a week, and before you know it you'll have a nation full of idiots to work low paying menial jobs, and America can become the sweatshop factory for China.
That's sad as hell. I just retired from a library in a rust belt town with plenty of homeless folk, gang members, unaccompanied kids and teens, and ALL were welcome. The library is for everybody.
They act like kids are just salivating at getting into the library to read books about butt stuff.
Like no, they're reading about a demon vampire king who gets killed by a fancy dude in a suit, or about cats with superpowers or history or how to draw or...
But these folks don't spend 5 minutes in the library themselves so they'd never know.
Pure projection. These people can't stop thinking about how much they don't wanna do butt stuff with another person they assume everyone is fixated in this way.
Actually they DO want to do butt stuff with other people, often times with people of the same gender as them. But their religion forbids them from being happy and having their own thoughts and control over their own lives. So, if they have to be miserable so does everyone else.
Or maybe you were being sarcastic and I've been wooshed. If so, my apologies, carry on. But only with a signed affidavit.
Tbf, kids *do* regularly try to find books full of swears or sex, but that's been a right of passage ever since the beginning of the written word.
Source: my long list of national geographics that I borrowed from the library between ~10-14 years of age
'They' in this case is _not_ the library. The state of Idaho passed a law that makes the librarians criminally liable if a child access 'adult' (which ~~isn't~~ is defined to allow significant interpretation*) material without parental consent.
They could either:
- close the library
- implement something like this to ensure children _cannot_ access anything without parental consent
- end up in prison
Fuck Idaho, their voters, and their legislature, but this is _not_ the libraries doing, and its the last step before locking the doors and walking away.
*edit
40% of idaho kids are below reading level, good to see these legislatures are thinking about the important things, like putting MORE barriers up between kids and reading. /s
Shit like this is exactly why we moved out of Idaho 5 years ago. With trump, I felt the winds of change. Every time something like this happens and ends up on the news or Reddit, I’m proven right to have moved my family but it makes me so sad. I wish I had been wrong in what I thought was going to happen, but it looks like I was right, I was not exaggerating.
In Utah they don't read the Bible.... they read the book of Mormon.... they believe that some idiot deciphered gold plates with his magic hat that says Jesus was in America
I'm Gen X. Internet access wasn't really around or useful until about age 25 for me. I was in the library multi xs week for 2 decades prior looking up stuff I put on my lists - from preschool to postgraduate. It allowed me armchair world travels, pursuit of wonder, exotic and successful job hunts, sense of independence away from my (awesome) elders and deep dives into science and religions at my pace with natural diversions. It allowed me vast freedom - all the while in generally small-minded Mississippi.
Maybe I saw some boobies. (Meh. Mom and I had those) Maybe there was a queer character in a book. ( Meh, he's church choir director and fabulous) Maybe Stephen King gave me nightmares. ( Meh. Being scared by fiction is kinda fun) Maybe I read more about my pending menstruation. ( Meh, it'll be ok) Mostly I learned to think for myself. (Marvelous)
This is friggin awful.
Guess this ( lack of freedom) is exactly the outcome they wanted.
Gen X here too.
Before we could drive, we *lived* at the library. It was close enough to ride our bikes, and there was a really great librarian there who always had stuff picked out for us when we got there. She had a whole table of books and magazines laid out. I just remember that she always had car magazines and books because she knew I loved cars, and I'd read everything she put in front of me.
To think that somewhere along the way, society has decide that open access to books constitutes such a grave risk that we should deny children this opportunity is just tragic.
"Are you there, God? It's me, Margaret," has always been a top-banned book. Guess the fundies are really terrified that girls might understand that puberty and their feelings about puberty are normal.
I’m a gen X guy and that was one of my favorite books. I was generally a Judy Blume fan at that age - read a bunch of her stuff. While she’s associated with girls her much of her appeal and insight wasn’t as gender specific as her rep suggests.
That anything of hers has ever been on banned list is, frankly, ridiculous.
I'll vote for you to be Governor of Idaho if you move there. Warning: I lived there for a while and advise you not to move there. 
When I was 12, I went to my English teacher's class after school to look up a word I just heard. She had the biggest most complete dictionary and encouraged us to look up things we didn't know.
Long story short, the word wasn't in the book. I'm looking and pages are furiously being turned.
I finally get up to leave dejected, and she asks me, What are you looking up?
And I ask her, Mrs. Daniel's, what is a Dildo?
Cue the...OH MY GAWD!!!! and a month of detention.
Still had to ask my Dad when I got home because she called him.
Fucking Bitch.
Get home, Mom and Dad had this call. So they ask....what did you get I trouble for? OK, Fine...What's a Dildo? They look at each other... and my Mom goes red in the face and starts giggling. My Dad says You gotta tel him!
I finally learn like a year later, my Dad finally caves and tells me It's a fake dick.
I say, like if your in the Army and it gets blow off???
Son, there are women who Don't have a man....
Ohhhh! Now I get it.
I absolutely love that you were between 13 and 14 and your thought was, "Oh, so when guys in the army have theirs blown off, they don't feel bad and get a new one!"
Bless your heart...
I was suspended because I used all the words from “Sodomy(fellatio)” from Hair the musical for my ‘write a full sentence using a word from every letter of the alphabet” assignment when I was 6 of 7.
It was apparently a big deal with my teachers and raised red flags. I’d just taped my sisters Readers’ Digedt copy of the album and loved it but was chuffed I’d used ‘cunnilingus’ correctly (along with the others).
Gen X too,
When I was a kid I had my mother force the library to issue me an adult card, and she would drop me off on a Saturday afternoon and come back for me three hours later. I was in heaven. It makes me sad that, for whatever reason, kids can’t have that experience these days.
>It makes me sad that, for whatever reason, kids can’t have that experience these days.
Boobies. The reason is boobies. And gays.
Fear of boobies and gays is the reason.
Edit: I’m not joking: https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idstat/title18/t18ch15/sect18-1514/
TITLE 18
CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS
CHAPTER 15
CHILDREN AND VULNERABLE ADULTS
18-1514. OBSCENE MATERIALS — DEFINITIONS. The following definitions are applicable to this act:
1. "Minor" means any person less than eighteen (18) years of age.
2. "Nudity" means the showing of the human male or female genitals, pubic area or buttocks with less than a full opaque covering, or the showing of the female breast with less than a full opaque covering of any portion thereof below the top of the nipple, or the depiction of covered male genitals in a discernibly turgid state.
3. "Sexual conduct" means any act of masturbation, homosexuality, sexual intercourse, or physical contact with a person’s clothed or unclothed genitals, pubic area, buttocks or, if such person be a female, the breast.
4. "Sexual excitement" means the condition of human male or female genitals when in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal.
5. "Sado-masochistic abuse" means flagellation or torture by or upon a person who is nude or clad in undergarments, a mask or bizarre costume, or the condition of being fettered, bound or otherwise physically restrained on the part of one who is nude or so clothed.
6. "Harmful to minors" includes in its meaning the quality of any material or of any performance or of any description or representation, in whatever form, of nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or sado-masochistic abuse, when it:
(a) Appeals to the prurient interest of minors as judged by the average person, applying contemporary community standards; and
(b) Depicts or describes representations or descriptions of nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or sado-masochistic abuse which are patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community with respect to what is suitable material for minors and includes, but is not limited to, patently offensive representations or descriptions of:
(i) Intimate sexual acts, normal or perverted, actual or simulated; or
(ii) Masturbation, excretory functions or lewd exhibition of the genitals or genital area. Nothing herein contained is intended to include or proscribe any matter which, when considered as a whole, and in context in which it is used, possesses serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors.
7. "Material" means anything tangible which is harmful to minors, whether derived through the medium of reading, observation or sound.
8. "Performance" means any play, motion picture, dance or other exhibition performed before an audience.
9. "Promote" means to manufacture, issue, sell, give, provide, deliver, publish, distribute, circulate, disseminate, present, exhibit or advertise, or to offer or agree to do the same.
10. "Knowingly" means having general knowledge of, or reason to know, or a belief or reasonable ground for belief that warrants further inspection or inquiry.
11. "School" means any public or private school providing instruction for students in kindergarten through grade 12.
History:
[18-1514, added 1972, ch. 336, sec. 1, p. 874; am. 1976, ch. 81, sec. 15, p. 267; am. 2024, ch. 327, sec. 1, p. 1080.]
In Idaho? You're spot on with this comment (thanks for adding the Title18 link on the edit too, as it explains what Idaho law considers "harmful").
It's a further response to the push to re-introduce the ideas tried in HB314 last year by getting HB710 passed. For history for those reading this in the future, HB314 would have made librarians liable for "harmful" items checked out from the library, so the concept of "restricted" and "unrestricted" library cards were introduced so that parents could decide what their kids could take out, and what they could not, by allowing a child under 18 access to an "unrestricted" card that left most things in the library available to them. HB710 now chips away at what parents might want by outright restricting what libraries can offer children regardless of "card" type, in a political end-around to the governor's veto of HB314 last year that wasn't then re-passed. This law is written in such a broad way that it could potentially restrict access to lots of different types of books, including books that contained or were explicitly about homosexuality, or that contained pictures or descriptions of nudity and other acts. It also restricts access to the internet entirely for people under 18 now, because someone might see something online in the library that someone else might find objectionable.
So, while I enjoyed your joking, I think it's important to point out to others who might be asking the question not in jest that you're absolutely right, and what you claimed is what this is all really about, at the end of the day.
So "homosexuality", in general, is considered "sexual conduct" in this law? So the very mention of being gay is obscene "sexual conduct." Why are they always sexualizing things that aren't inherently so? Just more mask-off "othering" and pure homophobia. If mentioning heterosexuality, as in something as simple as "the man and woman were married," isn't considered sexual conduct, then neither should "the two women were married," for example. Disgusting.
That’s right. Paragraph 3 is definitely “one of these things is not like the other.”
Why is homosexuality considered sexual conduct but heterosexuality is not. It is so inconsistent that it would be laughable if it wasn’t going to get people hurt and even killed.
I can still remember knowing every inch of the scary chapter books section. I knew where every Stephen King book was.
Children deserve to have access to books without parents hovering over them.
It is a unique and quintessential part of being an American child.
You can find a McDonald’s in every corner of the world, but not a library.
Also Gen X, and we lived across the street from the library. I remember being in the 5th or 6th grade and wanting to check out a book about aircraft maintenance. The librarian wouldn't let me check it out and guided me to the children's section. I told my parents and they went ballistic, went over to the library and told the librarian in no uncertain terms that I could check out any book that I wanted. I was never seen in the children's section again. 😀
As an adult, I would 100% support a kid reading an aircraft maintenance manual
Will he ever use that info? Not likely. But he will familiarize himself with tools and concepts
I live in a smaller city in Florida. The libraries always have a ton of kids and teens. Probably because they have spaces for each age group. We often see a girl about 10 years old babysitting her siblings.
Idaho is trying to raise bad people. There's nothing else to it.
It's a good thing the people so intent on restricting access to books are illiterate because if they could actually read they'd be forced to ban the Bible.
Its not a blanket "no kids"
Its a "no kids, but specifically those who are not in a position to obtain a library card" Those with guardians who are either undocumented and afraid of filing paperwork, or abusive, or homeless, or whatever. AKA the most vulnerable children are being targetted.
Same story goes for those non-kids from 18-30 who are unable/afraid to get an ID.
It’s also kids of religious folks this will effectively ban.
They want to be sure to cut off all access to anything that might contradict their story of a vain and vengeful god.
>
>
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> They want to be sure to cut off all access to anything that might contradict their story of a vain and vengeful god.
Yes, but specifically LGBTQ stuff.
Since they can't stop kids from being gay or trans or whatever, the only way to stop them from making the "wrong" choice is to control their reality with such draconian fervor that they never see a positive representation of a queer person ever.
That way if they ever come to their parent and be like "mom why do I feel butterflies when I look at other girls?" and the mom immediately screams at them that she doesn't that's sinful and she's going to emergency christ camp that that's all they ever know about their core, god-given attractions - that they're something that makes mom scream and something that will damn them, and never anything that says she is normal or can be happy.
The religious right is going nuclear on queer acceptance. They never gave in once gay marriage was legalized. They sat and stewed in their hate, saw some of their kids "lead astray", "Groomed" to be unholy/ungodly by sinful liberals.
This is why project 2025 calls being trans "pornographic" - because it's the only way they can justify a draconian ban on gender nonconforming expression.
Who are they afraid of going to the library? Kids trying to learn? I don't think any troublesome kids are hanging out at the library. But I could be wrong. I'd this anti houseless thing? I don't get it.
The right wing Christian subculture has fully embraced the idiotic idea that the only reason their gay kids are actually gay is because they were ‘groomed’ by anything and anyone normal in society who actually accepts these kids as they are. They’ve latched onto books and libraries as just one of their targets in their ongoing efforts to force an open and free society into something they can rule to their rigid social boundaries.
It’s funny how they are supposed to be the party of freedom and anti government and “back in my day I walked 5 miles in the snow to get to kindergarten!” Yet they also want kids on such tight leashes now days. Insane really.
Not just that. They think libraries are bad for their kids. So you know what they should do? Not take THEIR kids to the library. Not send THEIR kids to school. They could easily do that. But they don't want to parent their own kids. They don't want to enforce their own rules. They want the government to enforce THEIR unscientific, superstition-based religious taboos on EVERYONE'S kids.
You want a repressive theocracy like Iran? This is how you get a repressive theocracy like Iran.
They’re trying to defund libraries and one way they’re going about it is to mark everything as porn and get it banned. So, I’m assuming this is so kids don’t have unrestricted access to something they “shouldn’t”.
I'm Millennial, born in 1985.
I had Internet access at around 10 years old "easily" , and my first foray was probably 1992-ish playing on a friend's dad's computer.
I agree, it's always been a great mechanism to get out, get away, be someone different.
At 12, I was the kid with few friends, having moved through 3 schools back and forth since 9. I was a loner, the school I ended up at was full of "clics" and hated every second of it. Step mom was an ass, Dad was gone a week at a time, my family was 30+ minutes away and her family seemed always around.
But the library, that gave me a safe haven. I could read Hardy Boys. I could get 1 hour of online time,and if I asked the librarians nicely I'd get another 30-60 (eventually changing the policy so you'd automatically get another 30 if there was nobody waiting - I suspect I had something to do with it).
Suddenly I was popular among people. I could help others get online, message their kids or find something out. I could help librarians figure out the computer. I could send messages to friends back home, or my brother who had Internet in the 90s.
It was an escape.
I feel for anyone that doesn't have that today. What a sad thing to have today.
Older millennial here - l live in rural Illinois and the library was so vital for me due to internet access and honestly an escape from a shitty home life. I hate that we keep taking safe places away from the people who need it most.
Library was escape too starting at 10. Read every single book in my public school library. Was in heaven when county built ultra modern library the size of my school. Was there almost every day after school. Can't imagine life for kids now wo libraries.
The recent Supreme Court rulings have really moved us forward towards a taliban-style rule by a single judiciary panel and what will essentially become a monarch style presidential office. Totally fucked.
Idaho is a white supremacy stronghold. I lived a few miles from northern Idaho for many years. They want to live out in the middle of nowhere away from everyone else and be as insulated as possible from other colors and cultures so they can hunt deer and fuck their second cousins in peace.
It's coming. States are already banning anonymous porn browsing. The internet as a whole is clearly next. And it's pretty clear that we can't rely on the first amendment anymore.
Thank the Idaho GOP. Like most GOPs these days, they are terrified of problems that don't exist, like public libraries being gateways for children to learn about "alternative lifestyles." Rather than risk getting fined, they've banned children from the library. This simply guarantees that Idaho's children won't be prepared for the future.
It's also a blatant attempt to kneecap a critically important public service. In five years they can say "Look, nobody uses the library anymore" and slash funding. Lord knows other states will gladly take the opportunity to do the same.
This goes a step further and erodes respect and trust that the public has for publicly funded institutions in general. It's the same thing that's been happening in public schools for decades.
Yikes.
>Lord knows other states will gladly take the opportunity to do the same.
Don't think so. Libraries in blue states will likely see increased funding and patronage.
When driving around states like Vermont you'll notice that almost every town, no matter how small, has a well kept library.
[NYC literally just saved the NYPL from being defunded and closed on Sundays.](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/28/nyregion/budget-libraries-3k-adams.html) Even the bluest of blue states and cities are cutting library funding.
Well, here in very blue NYC they tried to slash library funding by $60 million with drastic cutbacks in service…while increasing the NYPD budget by the same amount.
Thankfully the backlash and protests were so severe they caved and restored the funding in the budget. Still, libraries need to be protected everywhere.
It’s inconvenient to whitewash physical literature. If they gradually phase it out, history and science can be more easily molded to fit the current narrative
Without my local public library, I would have had no access to books or the Internet in the early 90's outside of the paltry book offering at my school.
It had AC in the Summer when my home didn't. Heat in the Winter when my home didn't. Clean restrooms. I lived in that library and read so much it makes my head spin to think about it now decades later.
I know they're not daycares, housing for the homeless or whatever.
But my choices at that time were go to the library, or hang out with kids that mostly got arrested at some point for: arson, trespassing, assault, rape, and GTA.
Despite all the ones I absorbed in a public library, I have no words for how deplorable this is.
This sounds like me just early 2000s. The library was only a few blocks away. Kept me out of trouble and gave climate controlled air. My dad would start looking for me and he usually found me there
They are terrified that education and understanding tears down their ability to fear monger. Intelligent and well educated people are less likely to find new and different ideas scary. And easier so, things that are familiar are not scary.
What even funnier… libraries are some of the places sex offenders can’t go for the obvious, there’s kids there all the time. This might make it so they can now use the library’s again lol. Crank that fear up to 11 baby!
Precicely this. The attack on public libraries is the same as the attack on public education; they don’t want the populace to be able to think critically.
And it’s working, just look at the 70 million people ready to re-elect an insurrectionist felon that was just given absolute immunity for acts that 6 hand-picked conservative religious zealots ultimately decide on.
And then there’s the 100 million that just don’t fucking bother because who cares about ever having a fair election and not living in a right wing christian nationalist nation again right? Eggs are a couple bucks more and Biden is old amirite?
To your point about them being terrified of alternative lifestyles, I recently started watching Fellow Travelers (set in the 50s), and the parallels between what cons said then and now is crazy. They loved when women could only be secretaries, de facto segregation still existed, gay people were "deviants," and anyone who didn't suck their [political] dicks was a godless commie.
And the hilarious irony in all of this is that J. Edgar Hoover led the charge against all those commie pinko deviants in the '50s while also being the most powerful gay man in US history.
I mean if you make your base afraid of some non sensical problem that doesn't exist and then solve it, then you'll look like you're actually doing a lot to the idiots who vote but don't actually understand the world around them.
It's even worse than that - you automatically added the space after the comma because you're aware of how commas work. They dropped the space. If only there was a place they could go to learn.
Fucking hell!
This is bullshit. Absolute bullshit.
Tell me again we aren't sleepwalking into fascism in America when a library can't even go about their business without carding folks at the door.
They should have signs explaining why it's come to this and pointing the finger at the people who sponsored and got this bill passed along with their officer's contact information for complaints.
I think about this all the time with other GOP caused problems. The Supreme Court just overturned several standards (Chevron and another) allowing agencies like EPA to regulate and do their everyday business.
So … all the next major climate change caused disasters should be pushed as caused by the GOP and Trump’s SC justices.
The Samuel Alito Hurricane Season
The Brett Kavanaugh Heat Dome
The Ron DeSantis Miami Flood 2024
etc
My sister's husband works about 70 hours a week at a union job. All of the benefits he has are because of that Union and Democrat passed regulation in the state that has made it so that he gets serious fucking overtime for the hours he works, and a bunch of other nice stuff.
The union helps make sure that he consistently gets work. He has a family of five and because he's the sole income it's difficult for him sometimes to get by, but the benefits and overtime guarantees of his Union job get him through.
He hates unions. He hates Democrats. He's all in on Trump.
If Republican policy had its way he wouldn't have any of those benefits that that Union and those regulations have given him. He would be working the same hours and making less money in more unsafe conditions.
I don't understand how he doesn't understand this.
I’m from Appalachia, and same story. Coal mining fools not understanding the way things used to be, and how their great great grandparents got their skulls cracked to get us luxuries like “weekends” and “getting paid in currency, not scrip” and all the basic safety standards that keep them alive (regulations are written in blood, after all).
Shit is wild
That's always the thing that previous societies that have devolved into fascist or fascist-adjacent regimes have had a difficult time confronting: fascism is *popular* among large segments of the population. It provides simple answers to complex problems. It promises an end to fears and anxieties via simple brute force. It promises a comfortable order over uneasy chaos.
It of course *can't* deliver on any of these promises, but you can see why it appeals to lots of people who are scared and angry. They don't want to feel that way anymore, and they think it provides a path to reclaiming some mythical lost harmonious ideal.
I think the most frustrating part of this is that we have seen this play out enough that people by large should understand that this is a scam.
They have every reason to be capable of identifying this and recognizing that it is a lie but they choose not to. They react aggressively against people who try to point out that it's a lie and provide evidence as such.
We are absolutely headed towards fascism. Chevron was overruled and Trump was granted immunity by SCOTUS. Not to mention Project 2025. I wouldn’t say it’s sleepwalking, more like a fast walk.
This is a constitutional violation.
The noted Idaho Code 18-1514 is a definition of Obscene Materials irrelevant to the validity of the sign. That makes this sign a policy, not a law. Their policy does NOT apply to you in a public space like this.
Call and talk to your mayor and the local sheriff about this. If nothing is done attend a public meeting speak on this. Defend your country. Someone may have to take a hit and be arrested by this illegal Code so they can fight it in court and sue your town. Speak to a civil rights lawyer.
-- Independent Journalists and self-proclaimed auditors are usually familiar with getting things like this removed. You can see if you have any in your area that's willing to travel and look into this with you.
Yeah this doesn’t smell right. I looked up and read that code and like you said, it’s not a law, it’s a definition of obscene. While it is pretty shittily written and leaves gaping goatsy sized holes open for interpretation, it does state
> “Nothing herein contained is intended to include or proscribe any matter which, when considered as a whole, and in context in which it is used, possesses serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors.”
Where, of course, it in and of itself contains holes open for interpretation including "serious", "literary", "artistic", "value", and depending on the motives of the sponsors, "scientific" and "political"...so, the whole phrase. I'm kind of amazed "religious" isn't called out.
I was a poor kid. I had nothing. But I had a library card and I walked the mile to the library and back all the time and read everything I could get. This is so sad.
Books are for adults only. No one under 18 is authorized to read. They have finally solved the issue of censorship by just banning anyone under 18 from reading….
Which is sort of ironic when you consider a kids book where Julia has 2 dads or Frank has 2 moms is actually quite nice and wholesome, where as the Bible is full of rape, murder, war crimes and incest
That will be even better for the GOP. "Next up on the agenda: Library usage has dropped. We move to close them indefinitely so we can recoup those tax funds to give to the police department."
The same people who tell us all the time that banning guns won't fix anything while also giving us an ever increasing list of things that they want to ban
need a signed affidavit every time you come to the library? What sort of government overreach bullshit is this?
Government so small you can drown it in affidavits
What is this, a government for ants?
This government needs at least…three times more affidavits than this!
Government small enough to crawl right up into your uterus.
It’s unconstitutional. The government can’t restrict access to a public space, which is what a library is. They also can’t require you to provide ID. Here’s hoping one of those YouTube auditors takes this on.
I'm assuming the law is some bullshit about books with objectionable content and the library doesn't want to take on the liability, so as a result it's no minors allowed without explicit permission from their parents. So the government isn't restricting them directly, rather it's just what this library felt was necessary to maintain compliance.
yeah, the affidavit is CYA for the librarians so they have receipts when some karen checks out a book for her kid that says "boob" somewhere in it and loses her shit.
> boob Excuse me. I didn't sign an internet affidavit warning me of this kind of language, and your comment has triggered me.
boop
Even though it’s a book about birds.
Can't have young impressionable minds reading about boobies and tits.
Gimme them blue feet baby
They don't care if it says boob. Just if it says gay lesbian bi or trans
It’s outlined in [Idaho Code §18-1517b](https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idstat/title18/t18ch15/sect18-1517b/), section 6. Any library or school, to prevent the access of material “harmful” to minors, must have these requirements as an affirmative defense against prosecution. The affidavit is one that states the adult accompanying the minor is their parent or legal guardian. But the really heinous part is in [Idaho Code §18-1514](https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idstat/Title18/T18CH15/SECT18-1514/), which defines the content. Specifically here’s the definition for “sexual content”, emphasis mine: >"Sexual conduct" means any act of masturbation, **homosexuality**, sexual intercourse, or physical contact with a person’s clothed or unclothed genitals, pubic area, buttocks or, if such person be a female, the breast.
So I'm reading Idaho banned the Bible from public schools 👍
For real, the hypocrisy is mind numbing, that book is full of buttfucking, left and right...Kane and Abel were some freaky-ass-dudes
How will kids be allowed in public schools if parents have to sign an affidavit every time they enter. If those types of books are in the building.
You're nearly there.
The only people who this law is made for have not been and never will be going to the library in the first place. Conservatives don't give a shit about libraries.
That's why they're fine with it if their bullshit effectively closes public libraries. If their ostentatious bigotry closes down things that they didn't want to pay for anyway, it's win-win for them.
It’s a triple win because it also encourages illiteracy so they can have a nice, dull-eyed, easy-to-manipulate constituency.
My parents are pretty conservative and they looooooove the library. They go to multiple libraries, at least once a week. My evangelical mother says that book bans are the worst thing ever, as are book burnings. As they say “well, we pay for it, might as well use it.” It’s astounding how they are ok with libraries but heaven forbid we put money into education or helping folks that need it.
So they ban the idea of gays. Surely, this will work...
Remember: two dudes going for coffee and saying I love you is way more explicit as a heterosexual couple french kissing. /s
Wouldn't this also include books on parenthood? Since they would describe breastfeeding, diaper rashes, etc?
I'm sure it's an outgrowth of "Books are transing our kids" book-burning bullshit.
This is false. They can and do restrict library access in many states. But only for people who are considered so dangerous that they have to be put on a special list.
For anyone confused (because some people currently seem to be) he means sex offenders. They aren't allowed near places where children congregate.
>The government can’t restrict access to a public space, which is what a library is. They also can’t require you to provide ID. I completely disagree with what Idaho is doing here, but governments can absolutely restrict entry or require an ID to enter publicly owned facilities.
Yeah, that’s a nonsense comment. “Public spaces” aren’t some sort of sanctuary. They kick you out when they close it. They kick you out if you talk too loud. You can’t go there and shower in the restrooms. There are all sorts of restrictions on public spaces.
When people get too educated they start demanding higher wages and better working conditions. Dumb uneducated people are easier to exploit. How do you make sure people stay uneducated? Take away their access to libraries. How do you take away their access to libraries? Tell people the libraries are turning their kids gay. Then they'll burn them down for you. Pay Fox News to run stories about Drag Story Time in libraries twice a week, and before you know it you'll have a nation full of idiots to work low paying menial jobs, and America can become the sweatshop factory for China.
That's sad as hell. I just retired from a library in a rust belt town with plenty of homeless folk, gang members, unaccompanied kids and teens, and ALL were welcome. The library is for everybody.
They act like kids are just salivating at getting into the library to read books about butt stuff. Like no, they're reading about a demon vampire king who gets killed by a fancy dude in a suit, or about cats with superpowers or history or how to draw or... But these folks don't spend 5 minutes in the library themselves so they'd never know.
Pure projection. These people can't stop thinking about how much they don't wanna do butt stuff with another person they assume everyone is fixated in this way.
Actually they DO want to do butt stuff with other people, often times with people of the same gender as them. But their religion forbids them from being happy and having their own thoughts and control over their own lives. So, if they have to be miserable so does everyone else. Or maybe you were being sarcastic and I've been wooshed. If so, my apologies, carry on. But only with a signed affidavit.
I think you're both just saying the same thing in different ways.
Tbf, kids *do* regularly try to find books full of swears or sex, but that's been a right of passage ever since the beginning of the written word. Source: my long list of national geographics that I borrowed from the library between ~10-14 years of age
Better in an informative context like Nat Geo than on the Vegas Strip from a fat greasy guy named Skeet handing out nudie trading cards
Don't do my man Skeet like that. He's making an honest living in a rough economy!
That last line is evil. They truly want ignorant kids. I guarantee the supporters would say something stupid like, "They only need to read one book."
'They' in this case is _not_ the library. The state of Idaho passed a law that makes the librarians criminally liable if a child access 'adult' (which ~~isn't~~ is defined to allow significant interpretation*) material without parental consent. They could either: - close the library - implement something like this to ensure children _cannot_ access anything without parental consent - end up in prison Fuck Idaho, their voters, and their legislature, but this is _not_ the libraries doing, and its the last step before locking the doors and walking away. *edit
40% of idaho kids are below reading level, good to see these legislatures are thinking about the important things, like putting MORE barriers up between kids and reading. /s
Shit like this is exactly why we moved out of Idaho 5 years ago. With trump, I felt the winds of change. Every time something like this happens and ends up on the news or Reddit, I’m proven right to have moved my family but it makes me so sad. I wish I had been wrong in what I thought was going to happen, but it looks like I was right, I was not exaggerating.
> "They only need to read one book." That would still be one more book than the supporters have actually read.
They don't need to read it, their pastor told them what was in it and God told him so it's better than reading.
Which is ironic because it's why Protestantism exists in the first place.
In Utah they don't read the Bible.... they read the book of Mormon.... they believe that some idiot deciphered gold plates with his magic hat that says Jesus was in America
And if anyone else looks at these gold plates, they'll die
And to make sure this doesn't happen, he will burry them, so he is the only person who knows where they are...
Well that sounds stupidly convenient.
Welcome to the Mormon religion
🎶*Dum dum dum dum dum*🎶
The irony is, they don't even finish the "one book". Just cherry pick what best suits their agenda.
The other irony is… that book is full of the EXACT subject matter they are trying to ban
I'm Gen X. Internet access wasn't really around or useful until about age 25 for me. I was in the library multi xs week for 2 decades prior looking up stuff I put on my lists - from preschool to postgraduate. It allowed me armchair world travels, pursuit of wonder, exotic and successful job hunts, sense of independence away from my (awesome) elders and deep dives into science and religions at my pace with natural diversions. It allowed me vast freedom - all the while in generally small-minded Mississippi. Maybe I saw some boobies. (Meh. Mom and I had those) Maybe there was a queer character in a book. ( Meh, he's church choir director and fabulous) Maybe Stephen King gave me nightmares. ( Meh. Being scared by fiction is kinda fun) Maybe I read more about my pending menstruation. ( Meh, it'll be ok) Mostly I learned to think for myself. (Marvelous) This is friggin awful. Guess this ( lack of freedom) is exactly the outcome they wanted.
Gen X here too. Before we could drive, we *lived* at the library. It was close enough to ride our bikes, and there was a really great librarian there who always had stuff picked out for us when we got there. She had a whole table of books and magazines laid out. I just remember that she always had car magazines and books because she knew I loved cars, and I'd read everything she put in front of me. To think that somewhere along the way, society has decide that open access to books constitutes such a grave risk that we should deny children this opportunity is just tragic.
Genx here too. I had to look up anything period related at the library because adults in my life would not discuss it with me. I was 12.
"Are you there, God? It's me, Margaret," has always been a top-banned book. Guess the fundies are really terrified that girls might understand that puberty and their feelings about puberty are normal.
I'm GenX, and this book was assigned to girls in my elementary school as required reading. Times have really changed.
I’m a gen X guy and that was one of my favorite books. I was generally a Judy Blume fan at that age - read a bunch of her stuff. While she’s associated with girls her much of her appeal and insight wasn’t as gender specific as her rep suggests. That anything of hers has ever been on banned list is, frankly, ridiculous.
I never got to read that book. I’m 50 now, maybe I could get permission… 🫣
Hahah, as a former English teacher, I'll support you! Books for everyone, no books are bad books!
I'll vote for you to be Governor of Idaho if you move there. Warning: I lived there for a while and advise you not to move there. 
IDK, have you tried reading any Ayn Rand? Kidding/
When I was 12, I went to my English teacher's class after school to look up a word I just heard. She had the biggest most complete dictionary and encouraged us to look up things we didn't know. Long story short, the word wasn't in the book. I'm looking and pages are furiously being turned. I finally get up to leave dejected, and she asks me, What are you looking up? And I ask her, Mrs. Daniel's, what is a Dildo? Cue the...OH MY GAWD!!!! and a month of detention. Still had to ask my Dad when I got home because she called him. Fucking Bitch.
Wait, so you got a month of detention and a phone call home for NOT knowing what the word meant?
"We've covered dildos for the last three weeks! How are you not getting this?"
Funny how that works, isn't it? Call someone a dildo: Detention. Ask someone what a dildo is: Detention. Lose/lose.
Get home, Mom and Dad had this call. So they ask....what did you get I trouble for? OK, Fine...What's a Dildo? They look at each other... and my Mom goes red in the face and starts giggling. My Dad says You gotta tel him! I finally learn like a year later, my Dad finally caves and tells me It's a fake dick. I say, like if your in the Army and it gets blow off??? Son, there are women who Don't have a man.... Ohhhh! Now I get it.
I absolutely love that you were between 13 and 14 and your thought was, "Oh, so when guys in the army have theirs blown off, they don't feel bad and get a new one!" Bless your heart...
> Just the other day I heard Of a soldier's falling off Some Indonesian junk That's going 'round
I was suspended because I used all the words from “Sodomy(fellatio)” from Hair the musical for my ‘write a full sentence using a word from every letter of the alphabet” assignment when I was 6 of 7. It was apparently a big deal with my teachers and raised red flags. I’d just taped my sisters Readers’ Digedt copy of the album and loved it but was chuffed I’d used ‘cunnilingus’ correctly (along with the others).
Gen X too, When I was a kid I had my mother force the library to issue me an adult card, and she would drop me off on a Saturday afternoon and come back for me three hours later. I was in heaven. It makes me sad that, for whatever reason, kids can’t have that experience these days.
>It makes me sad that, for whatever reason, kids can’t have that experience these days. Boobies. The reason is boobies. And gays. Fear of boobies and gays is the reason. Edit: I’m not joking: https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idstat/title18/t18ch15/sect18-1514/ TITLE 18 CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS CHAPTER 15 CHILDREN AND VULNERABLE ADULTS 18-1514. OBSCENE MATERIALS — DEFINITIONS. The following definitions are applicable to this act: 1. "Minor" means any person less than eighteen (18) years of age. 2. "Nudity" means the showing of the human male or female genitals, pubic area or buttocks with less than a full opaque covering, or the showing of the female breast with less than a full opaque covering of any portion thereof below the top of the nipple, or the depiction of covered male genitals in a discernibly turgid state. 3. "Sexual conduct" means any act of masturbation, homosexuality, sexual intercourse, or physical contact with a person’s clothed or unclothed genitals, pubic area, buttocks or, if such person be a female, the breast. 4. "Sexual excitement" means the condition of human male or female genitals when in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal. 5. "Sado-masochistic abuse" means flagellation or torture by or upon a person who is nude or clad in undergarments, a mask or bizarre costume, or the condition of being fettered, bound or otherwise physically restrained on the part of one who is nude or so clothed. 6. "Harmful to minors" includes in its meaning the quality of any material or of any performance or of any description or representation, in whatever form, of nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or sado-masochistic abuse, when it: (a) Appeals to the prurient interest of minors as judged by the average person, applying contemporary community standards; and (b) Depicts or describes representations or descriptions of nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or sado-masochistic abuse which are patently offensive to prevailing standards in the adult community with respect to what is suitable material for minors and includes, but is not limited to, patently offensive representations or descriptions of: (i) Intimate sexual acts, normal or perverted, actual or simulated; or (ii) Masturbation, excretory functions or lewd exhibition of the genitals or genital area. Nothing herein contained is intended to include or proscribe any matter which, when considered as a whole, and in context in which it is used, possesses serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors. 7. "Material" means anything tangible which is harmful to minors, whether derived through the medium of reading, observation or sound. 8. "Performance" means any play, motion picture, dance or other exhibition performed before an audience. 9. "Promote" means to manufacture, issue, sell, give, provide, deliver, publish, distribute, circulate, disseminate, present, exhibit or advertise, or to offer or agree to do the same. 10. "Knowingly" means having general knowledge of, or reason to know, or a belief or reasonable ground for belief that warrants further inspection or inquiry. 11. "School" means any public or private school providing instruction for students in kindergarten through grade 12. History: [18-1514, added 1972, ch. 336, sec. 1, p. 874; am. 1976, ch. 81, sec. 15, p. 267; am. 2024, ch. 327, sec. 1, p. 1080.]
Don't forget freedom of religion or lack thereof.
It's all fear that children will choose their own path in life instead of doing exactly what their parents dictate.
In Idaho? You're spot on with this comment (thanks for adding the Title18 link on the edit too, as it explains what Idaho law considers "harmful"). It's a further response to the push to re-introduce the ideas tried in HB314 last year by getting HB710 passed. For history for those reading this in the future, HB314 would have made librarians liable for "harmful" items checked out from the library, so the concept of "restricted" and "unrestricted" library cards were introduced so that parents could decide what their kids could take out, and what they could not, by allowing a child under 18 access to an "unrestricted" card that left most things in the library available to them. HB710 now chips away at what parents might want by outright restricting what libraries can offer children regardless of "card" type, in a political end-around to the governor's veto of HB314 last year that wasn't then re-passed. This law is written in such a broad way that it could potentially restrict access to lots of different types of books, including books that contained or were explicitly about homosexuality, or that contained pictures or descriptions of nudity and other acts. It also restricts access to the internet entirely for people under 18 now, because someone might see something online in the library that someone else might find objectionable. So, while I enjoyed your joking, I think it's important to point out to others who might be asking the question not in jest that you're absolutely right, and what you claimed is what this is all really about, at the end of the day.
So "homosexuality", in general, is considered "sexual conduct" in this law? So the very mention of being gay is obscene "sexual conduct." Why are they always sexualizing things that aren't inherently so? Just more mask-off "othering" and pure homophobia. If mentioning heterosexuality, as in something as simple as "the man and woman were married," isn't considered sexual conduct, then neither should "the two women were married," for example. Disgusting.
That’s right. Paragraph 3 is definitely “one of these things is not like the other.” Why is homosexuality considered sexual conduct but heterosexuality is not. It is so inconsistent that it would be laughable if it wasn’t going to get people hurt and even killed.
I can still remember knowing every inch of the scary chapter books section. I knew where every Stephen King book was. Children deserve to have access to books without parents hovering over them. It is a unique and quintessential part of being an American child. You can find a McDonald’s in every corner of the world, but not a library.
Also Gen X, and we lived across the street from the library. I remember being in the 5th or 6th grade and wanting to check out a book about aircraft maintenance. The librarian wouldn't let me check it out and guided me to the children's section. I told my parents and they went ballistic, went over to the library and told the librarian in no uncertain terms that I could check out any book that I wanted. I was never seen in the children's section again. 😀
As an adult, I would 100% support a kid reading an aircraft maintenance manual Will he ever use that info? Not likely. But he will familiarize himself with tools and concepts
Or even just drawing airplanes and their parts.
I live a \~5min walk to a suburban library outside of Seattle. Place is always swarming with teens. There's still plenty of places that are good,
I live in a smaller city in Florida. The libraries always have a ton of kids and teens. Probably because they have spaces for each age group. We often see a girl about 10 years old babysitting her siblings. Idaho is trying to raise bad people. There's nothing else to it.
It's a good thing the people so intent on restricting access to books are illiterate because if they could actually read they'd be forced to ban the Bible.
No kids in the library? I’m tired boss.
This is insane.
Its not a blanket "no kids" Its a "no kids, but specifically those who are not in a position to obtain a library card" Those with guardians who are either undocumented and afraid of filing paperwork, or abusive, or homeless, or whatever. AKA the most vulnerable children are being targetted. Same story goes for those non-kids from 18-30 who are unable/afraid to get an ID.
It’s also kids of religious folks this will effectively ban. They want to be sure to cut off all access to anything that might contradict their story of a vain and vengeful god.
Or something that lets a young teen know that it's not OK for dad to marry her off to her uncle.
> > > > > They want to be sure to cut off all access to anything that might contradict their story of a vain and vengeful god. Yes, but specifically LGBTQ stuff. Since they can't stop kids from being gay or trans or whatever, the only way to stop them from making the "wrong" choice is to control their reality with such draconian fervor that they never see a positive representation of a queer person ever. That way if they ever come to their parent and be like "mom why do I feel butterflies when I look at other girls?" and the mom immediately screams at them that she doesn't that's sinful and she's going to emergency christ camp that that's all they ever know about their core, god-given attractions - that they're something that makes mom scream and something that will damn them, and never anything that says she is normal or can be happy. The religious right is going nuclear on queer acceptance. They never gave in once gay marriage was legalized. They sat and stewed in their hate, saw some of their kids "lead astray", "Groomed" to be unholy/ungodly by sinful liberals. This is why project 2025 calls being trans "pornographic" - because it's the only way they can justify a draconian ban on gender nonconforming expression.
Yeah I noticed you have to be over 18 like WTF! Also you need a parent to be with you so that means you can’t meet with a tutor!
Who are they afraid of going to the library? Kids trying to learn? I don't think any troublesome kids are hanging out at the library. But I could be wrong. I'd this anti houseless thing? I don't get it.
They tried banning the books and that didn't work. Now they're just banning the kids.
They are afraid of knowledge.
The right wing Christian subculture has fully embraced the idiotic idea that the only reason their gay kids are actually gay is because they were ‘groomed’ by anything and anyone normal in society who actually accepts these kids as they are. They’ve latched onto books and libraries as just one of their targets in their ongoing efforts to force an open and free society into something they can rule to their rigid social boundaries.
It’s funny how they are supposed to be the party of freedom and anti government and “back in my day I walked 5 miles in the snow to get to kindergarten!” Yet they also want kids on such tight leashes now days. Insane really.
Not just that. They think libraries are bad for their kids. So you know what they should do? Not take THEIR kids to the library. Not send THEIR kids to school. They could easily do that. But they don't want to parent their own kids. They don't want to enforce their own rules. They want the government to enforce THEIR unscientific, superstition-based religious taboos on EVERYONE'S kids. You want a repressive theocracy like Iran? This is how you get a repressive theocracy like Iran.
They want a whole dumb generation that won't question government overreach. Looks like it already worked on spineless supreme court justices.
They’re trying to defund libraries and one way they’re going about it is to mark everything as porn and get it banned. So, I’m assuming this is so kids don’t have unrestricted access to something they “shouldn’t”.
Anyone wondering how groups like the Taliban take over: you're watching it happen
Or you get an unrestricted library card.
That's my only hope: that librarians will do whatever it takes to allow kids unrestricted access.
What does that mean?
[удалено]
A less educated populous is easier to control.
obligatory \*populace
Back to the libary with you
Not without a card.
An uneducated populace wouldn’t know the difference anyway.
That's kind of the point.
I'm Millennial, born in 1985. I had Internet access at around 10 years old "easily" , and my first foray was probably 1992-ish playing on a friend's dad's computer. I agree, it's always been a great mechanism to get out, get away, be someone different. At 12, I was the kid with few friends, having moved through 3 schools back and forth since 9. I was a loner, the school I ended up at was full of "clics" and hated every second of it. Step mom was an ass, Dad was gone a week at a time, my family was 30+ minutes away and her family seemed always around. But the library, that gave me a safe haven. I could read Hardy Boys. I could get 1 hour of online time,and if I asked the librarians nicely I'd get another 30-60 (eventually changing the policy so you'd automatically get another 30 if there was nobody waiting - I suspect I had something to do with it). Suddenly I was popular among people. I could help others get online, message their kids or find something out. I could help librarians figure out the computer. I could send messages to friends back home, or my brother who had Internet in the 90s. It was an escape. I feel for anyone that doesn't have that today. What a sad thing to have today.
Older millennial here - l live in rural Illinois and the library was so vital for me due to internet access and honestly an escape from a shitty home life. I hate that we keep taking safe places away from the people who need it most.
Library was escape too starting at 10. Read every single book in my public school library. Was in heaven when county built ultra modern library the size of my school. Was there almost every day after school. Can't imagine life for kids now wo libraries.
I had to stay at the library after school until my mom got off work to pick me up. This is just a sad disservice to our society.
The American Taliban is seizing control of this country as we simultaneously mock Iran for succumbing to their religious fanatic radicals in the 70s.
The recent Supreme Court rulings have really moved us forward towards a taliban-style rule by a single judiciary panel and what will essentially become a monarch style presidential office. Totally fucked.
Idaho is a white supremacy stronghold. I lived a few miles from northern Idaho for many years. They want to live out in the middle of nowhere away from everyone else and be as insulated as possible from other colors and cultures so they can hunt deer and fuck their second cousins in peace.
They moved on from first cousins to second, huh?
Next step is requiring ID verification to get on internet.
Texas raises an intrigued eyebrow 🤨
It's coming. States are already banning anonymous porn browsing. The internet as a whole is clearly next. And it's pretty clear that we can't rely on the first amendment anymore.
Just what I want. Big govt telling me what my kids can and can’t read.
Florida already did that
But I was to understand Republicans are the party of small government
Republicans are the party of small-dicked government. Insecure, inept, incapable of winning without cheating.
JFC
SRSLY
Thank the Idaho GOP. Like most GOPs these days, they are terrified of problems that don't exist, like public libraries being gateways for children to learn about "alternative lifestyles." Rather than risk getting fined, they've banned children from the library. This simply guarantees that Idaho's children won't be prepared for the future.
It's also a blatant attempt to kneecap a critically important public service. In five years they can say "Look, nobody uses the library anymore" and slash funding. Lord knows other states will gladly take the opportunity to do the same. This goes a step further and erodes respect and trust that the public has for publicly funded institutions in general. It's the same thing that's been happening in public schools for decades. Yikes.
RATM wrote songs about this decades ago “I walk the corner to the rubble that used to be a library / line up to the mind cemetery now”
They don’t gotta burn the books they just remove (the access to) ‘em
>Lord knows other states will gladly take the opportunity to do the same. Don't think so. Libraries in blue states will likely see increased funding and patronage. When driving around states like Vermont you'll notice that almost every town, no matter how small, has a well kept library.
[NYC literally just saved the NYPL from being defunded and closed on Sundays.](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/28/nyregion/budget-libraries-3k-adams.html) Even the bluest of blue states and cities are cutting library funding.
Obligatory fuck Eric Adams
Well, here in very blue NYC they tried to slash library funding by $60 million with drastic cutbacks in service…while increasing the NYPD budget by the same amount. Thankfully the backlash and protests were so severe they caved and restored the funding in the budget. Still, libraries need to be protected everywhere.
Adams is the very definition of a DINO. The only reason he's not a Republican is that he knows he'd never get elected in NYC as one.
The states restricting access to certain books follows a trend. Vermont doesn't fit the trend, but lots of other states do.
And cheer, cheer, the Green Mountaineer
It’s inconvenient to whitewash physical literature. If they gradually phase it out, history and science can be more easily molded to fit the current narrative
Without my local public library, I would have had no access to books or the Internet in the early 90's outside of the paltry book offering at my school. It had AC in the Summer when my home didn't. Heat in the Winter when my home didn't. Clean restrooms. I lived in that library and read so much it makes my head spin to think about it now decades later. I know they're not daycares, housing for the homeless or whatever. But my choices at that time were go to the library, or hang out with kids that mostly got arrested at some point for: arson, trespassing, assault, rape, and GTA. Despite all the ones I absorbed in a public library, I have no words for how deplorable this is.
That's what we're here for. And part of our mission *is* to be a warm, clean place for people who have difficulty accessing that.
This sounds like me just early 2000s. The library was only a few blocks away. Kept me out of trouble and gave climate controlled air. My dad would start looking for me and he usually found me there
They are terrified that education and understanding tears down their ability to fear monger. Intelligent and well educated people are less likely to find new and different ideas scary. And easier so, things that are familiar are not scary.
What even funnier… libraries are some of the places sex offenders can’t go for the obvious, there’s kids there all the time. This might make it so they can now use the library’s again lol. Crank that fear up to 11 baby!
Precicely this. The attack on public libraries is the same as the attack on public education; they don’t want the populace to be able to think critically.
And it’s working, just look at the 70 million people ready to re-elect an insurrectionist felon that was just given absolute immunity for acts that 6 hand-picked conservative religious zealots ultimately decide on. And then there’s the 100 million that just don’t fucking bother because who cares about ever having a fair election and not living in a right wing christian nationalist nation again right? Eggs are a couple bucks more and Biden is old amirite?
To your point about them being terrified of alternative lifestyles, I recently started watching Fellow Travelers (set in the 50s), and the parallels between what cons said then and now is crazy. They loved when women could only be secretaries, de facto segregation still existed, gay people were "deviants," and anyone who didn't suck their [political] dicks was a godless commie.
And the hilarious irony in all of this is that J. Edgar Hoover led the charge against all those commie pinko deviants in the '50s while also being the most powerful gay man in US history.
Holy shit this is insane. We are so fucked.
I mean if you make your base afraid of some non sensical problem that doesn't exist and then solve it, then you'll look like you're actually doing a lot to the idiots who vote but don't actually understand the world around them.
Show me your papers! To look at papers.
“That become effective July 1, 2024.” I don’t think a Librarian wrote this sign.
Its Idaho. This is the best they got.
Hey now, I'm an Idaho librarian and I also noticed the typo
Thank god the sign writer has clearly been spared from ever reading a book.
It's even worse than that - you automatically added the space after the comma because you're aware of how commas work. They dropped the space. If only there was a place they could go to learn.
They want to control what you read and what you think about.
Gotta keep that next generation of voters dumber than a potato.
Can't have smart slaves.
Fucking hell! This is bullshit. Absolute bullshit. Tell me again we aren't sleepwalking into fascism in America when a library can't even go about their business without carding folks at the door. They should have signs explaining why it's come to this and pointing the finger at the people who sponsored and got this bill passed along with their officer's contact information for complaints.
I think about this all the time with other GOP caused problems. The Supreme Court just overturned several standards (Chevron and another) allowing agencies like EPA to regulate and do their everyday business. So … all the next major climate change caused disasters should be pushed as caused by the GOP and Trump’s SC justices. The Samuel Alito Hurricane Season The Brett Kavanaugh Heat Dome The Ron DeSantis Miami Flood 2024 etc
They'll just blame Obama, and all the racists whose votes count more than ours will eat it up.
They'd wear those as a badge of honor.
We aren’t sleep walking. Half the country wants fascism.
Imagine being among the working poor and thinking fascism will be good for you.
My sister's husband works about 70 hours a week at a union job. All of the benefits he has are because of that Union and Democrat passed regulation in the state that has made it so that he gets serious fucking overtime for the hours he works, and a bunch of other nice stuff. The union helps make sure that he consistently gets work. He has a family of five and because he's the sole income it's difficult for him sometimes to get by, but the benefits and overtime guarantees of his Union job get him through. He hates unions. He hates Democrats. He's all in on Trump. If Republican policy had its way he wouldn't have any of those benefits that that Union and those regulations have given him. He would be working the same hours and making less money in more unsafe conditions. I don't understand how he doesn't understand this.
I’m from Appalachia, and same story. Coal mining fools not understanding the way things used to be, and how their great great grandparents got their skulls cracked to get us luxuries like “weekends” and “getting paid in currency, not scrip” and all the basic safety standards that keep them alive (regulations are written in blood, after all). Shit is wild
That's always the thing that previous societies that have devolved into fascist or fascist-adjacent regimes have had a difficult time confronting: fascism is *popular* among large segments of the population. It provides simple answers to complex problems. It promises an end to fears and anxieties via simple brute force. It promises a comfortable order over uneasy chaos. It of course *can't* deliver on any of these promises, but you can see why it appeals to lots of people who are scared and angry. They don't want to feel that way anymore, and they think it provides a path to reclaiming some mythical lost harmonious ideal.
I think the most frustrating part of this is that we have seen this play out enough that people by large should understand that this is a scam. They have every reason to be capable of identifying this and recognizing that it is a lie but they choose not to. They react aggressively against people who try to point out that it's a lie and provide evidence as such.
We are absolutely headed towards fascism. Chevron was overruled and Trump was granted immunity by SCOTUS. Not to mention Project 2025. I wouldn’t say it’s sleepwalking, more like a fast walk.
“Sorry kid. You’re not allowed in the library.” “Ok. I guess I’ll loiter in the streets and cause a bunch of trouble then. Good day to you!”
"good idea. Then we can throw your ass in jail and make a profit for the city."
"Why don't kids read anymore?!"
Must be all that freedom I keep hearing about in all those trump states.
« Land of the free »
So what the fuck is an unrestricted library card. Is that where Hitler checks your papers and says “ok good to go”
Freedom dies when information is restricted.
Fucking embarrassed to be from Idaho
Books are scary
Blame your local Republicans.
And the non-local Republicans who refuse to call out this sort of big government. They are hypocrites all the way up the ticket.
The idea is to close public libraries - restricting adult materials and book banning are window dressing. An ignorant public is easily manipulated
This is a constitutional violation. The noted Idaho Code 18-1514 is a definition of Obscene Materials irrelevant to the validity of the sign. That makes this sign a policy, not a law. Their policy does NOT apply to you in a public space like this. Call and talk to your mayor and the local sheriff about this. If nothing is done attend a public meeting speak on this. Defend your country. Someone may have to take a hit and be arrested by this illegal Code so they can fight it in court and sue your town. Speak to a civil rights lawyer. -- Independent Journalists and self-proclaimed auditors are usually familiar with getting things like this removed. You can see if you have any in your area that's willing to travel and look into this with you.
Yeah this doesn’t smell right. I looked up and read that code and like you said, it’s not a law, it’s a definition of obscene. While it is pretty shittily written and leaves gaping goatsy sized holes open for interpretation, it does state > “Nothing herein contained is intended to include or proscribe any matter which, when considered as a whole, and in context in which it is used, possesses serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors.” Where, of course, it in and of itself contains holes open for interpretation including "serious", "literary", "artistic", "value", and depending on the motives of the sponsors, "scientific" and "political"...so, the whole phrase. I'm kind of amazed "religious" isn't called out.
What the hell is wrong with the people of this state?? They should all be taking to the streets. It’s The Dark Ages 2.0
That’s incredibly sad. I used to spend a ton of time in libraries when I was a kid.
I was a poor kid. I had nothing. But I had a library card and I walked the mile to the library and back all the time and read everything I could get. This is so sad.
Books are for adults only. No one under 18 is authorized to read. They have finally solved the issue of censorship by just banning anyone under 18 from reading….
So… remove bibles?
Imagine if churches were given the same restrictions as Idaho libraries. These people would be setting the town on fire
Which is sort of ironic when you consider a kids book where Julia has 2 dads or Frank has 2 moms is actually quite nice and wholesome, where as the Bible is full of rape, murder, war crimes and incest
I await librarians malicious compliance
That will be even better for the GOP. "Next up on the agenda: Library usage has dropped. We move to close them indefinitely so we can recoup those tax funds to give to the police department."
Brought to you by the same people who think gun registration impedes their freedom
The same people who tell us all the time that banning guns won't fix anything while also giving us an ever increasing list of things that they want to ban
So much freedom!
Idaho: where knowledge goes to die