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Pa. Sen. proposes content ban in school libraries

Rep. Barb Gleim, R-Carlisle, is pictured speaking on the House of Representatives’ floor earlier this year.

Conservatives in the state Legislature are proposing action to limit exposure to books with sexual content in school libraries throughout the Commonwealth.

State Rep. Barbara Gleim, R-Carlisle, has introduced a co-sponsorship memorandum for House Bill 2815.

The yet-to-be-introduced bill has garnered nine Republican co-sponsors, though text has yet to be drafted. Gleim said she wants to end an exemption in state law that allows school libraries to possess and exhibit any legally obscene, even highly sexual, content.

“Under our current criminal law, no one may publicly exhibit or provide to a minor legally obscene materials,” Gleim wrote in her co-sponsorship memo. “This can include materials which are so shocking as to qualify as sexual bestiality, sadomasochistic abuse, and patently offensive representations or descriptions of ultimate sexual activity. But while this prohibition applies generally across the Commonwealth, our current law also includes a puzzling exemption allowing any library in the state not only to possess these very same materials, but also to exhibit them and to make them available to minors. My bill will remove this exemption for primary and secondary school libraries. To be clear, current law does not prohibit all sexual content whatsoever – only obscene content, as that label has developed under our Constitution. Current law also does not prohibit subject matter which, when taken as a whole, has serious literary, artistic, political, educational or scientific value.”

Gleim’s proposal comes less than a month after U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Bellefonte, and four fellow House members sent a letter to Gov. Tom Wolf and asking the governor and Eric Hagarty, acting state education secretary, to investigate parents’ concerns about explicit books — though the letter specifically mentions only one book, “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe.

The federal lawmakers are asking state officials to explain how school library materials are decided upon; how school boards, schools and librarians engage with parents to determine if content is appropriate for children based on age and academics; and if there has been an investigation previously into the issue.

“As a report issued by the Pennsylvania Office of Commonwealth Libraries indicated, ‘research studies provide strong evidence that academic achievement is significantly higher where a strong library program exists,'” the House members wrote. “We wholeheartedly agree with this and many of the other resources included in the report, which focus on helping students succeed in the classroom and enhancing their academic experience. We fail to understand how the aforementioned graphic material contained in books like ‘Gender Queer’ falls into any of the categories contained in this report.”

Elizabeth Rementer, a spokesperson for Gov. Tom Wolf, said in an email to the Times Observer that decisions about which books should be carried in school libraries is a local decision, and the Wolf administration won’t censor content provided by local school and library officials.

“That said, this is nothing more than a distraction. Students shouldn’t be leveraged as an extremist talking point disguised as a so-called effort to “protect” children. Further, this attempt to have the administration potentially censor library materials is extremely concerning. The Wolf Administration will continue to focus on the real priorities of the new school year rather than censorship, discrimination and bullying,” Rementer said.

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