With taxpayer-funded public libraries in Alaska and across the country increasingly choosing to highlight and prominently display sexualized and gender queer books aimed at young children, especially during so-called “LGBTQ Pride Month,” a national movement is underway to “Hide the Pride.”
Controversial books and drag queen story hours for kids have created deep division throughout the nation, including in several communities across Alaska. Now, parents are emptying libraries of inappropriate sexual books that target children.
The “Hide the Pride” campaign was initially launched by a group called CatholicVote, but has since spread to communities around the U.S.
“It’s June! Do you see rainbow-trans-BLM flags everywhere?” a notice from the organization states. “Including in your public, taxpayer-funded spaces? We do. And we are meeting the challenge head-on.”
The CatholicVote parental resource page details step-by-step instructions and tips for parents who want to send a message to their local library boards.
Resources include a form letter parents can use to gather signatures and send a protest petition to the library leaders. It also offers suggestions on how to legally empty the library of offensive and harmful books by simply checking out every single one and stashing them in a box at home.
“Take a friend or two along so multiple library cards can be used,” CatholicVote advises. “Having emptied the children’s ‘Pride’ display, parents can go home and ‘place the Pride books on a shelf out of reach of children.’”
The group recommends parents write the library leadership to inform them why all the “Pride” books are gone, and to let them know that they will be returned once the library agrees to “remove the inappropriate content from the shelves.”
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The letter advises parents to tell library leaders that “minor children have the right to belong to a community that respects their innocence and allows families to have conversations about sex and sexual attraction privately, and only when parents deem it appropriate. As parents, we should be able to bring our children to the public library without exposing them to displays of adult pride.”
To make sure Hide the Pride would be a success, several members of the CatholicVote staff went through the whole process themselves before launching the movement nationwide. “It was simple,” said one CatholicVote staffer, a mom of seven. “You probably won’t even have to talk about it with the librarian. Just check out, nobody bats an eye, and … mission accomplished.”
The group reminds parents to “stay calm and collected” when checking out the controversial books.
“You don’t have to make your case or get into arguments,” CatholicVote advises. “If questioned, you might simply say you are local residents with library cards checking out books. That’s your right.”
Click here to learn more about how to participate in Hide the Pride.
