Should Anchorage libraries protect the ability of 12-year-olds to access books that provide graphic advice on how to engage in anal sex, detailed instructions on ways to find online porn and tips about various ways to create sexy photos of their bodies to share online? Are libraries places where minors should be allowed unfettered access to explore myriad sexual fantasies and gender identities?
According to Anchorage Library Director Virginia McClure, and two members of the Anchorage Library Board, the answer is a resounding, “yes.”
This was the takeaway from a June 7 meeting of the ever shrinking and now powerless Anchorage Library Advisory Board.
A formal challenge to the controversial sex book, “Let’s Talk About It,” was the occasion for the meeting, which shed light on the guiding principles by which Anchorage’s publicly funded library system runs.
Sandra Graham, the former chief of staff for Mayor Dave Bronson, initiated the book challenge, claiming the library may be violating Alaska State laws against disseminating indecent material to minors by locating “Let’s Talk About It” in the youth section. Since March, she has been attempting to have the graphic sex book moved to an adult section where minors could not stumble upon it.
Library Director McClure has adamantly refused to relocate the book, claiming it is entirely appropriate for children, ages 12 and up. McClure was appointed by Bronson last year, after three other conservative library director nominees were rejected by the Assembly.
According to library policy, if the library director refuses to remove or relocate a challenged book, citizens have a right to appeal the decision to the Library Advisory Board.
Once the Anchorage Assembly caught wind of Graham’s challenge, and the possibility that the conservative-leaning library board might actually remove the book from the youth section, it quickly moved to disempower the library board and reduce it to a merely advisory body, with all authority invested in the library director. That was done in May as the just latest effort to neutralize the library board.
For months, the Anchorage Assembly has also refused to approve any of the conservative mayor’s nominees to fill four vacant seats on the nine-member library board, which means there are only five current members – three who lean conservative, and two hard-leftists. That would still be enough votes to address the challenged book, if the Assembly had not taken all power away from the library board.
During the recent meeting, Graham expressed frustration over what now appeared to be an incoherent process by which citizens could challenge books.
Assistant Municipal Attorney Jessica Willoughby spelled this out to the library board at the start of the June 7 hearing. She said the board could hear the book challenge but could no longer make a determination on its status, despite the fact that official library policy explicitly acknowledges the board’s power to do so.
Library Board Member Doug Weimann noted that the board is now “just figure heads,” and suggested that McClure had worked behind the scenes to gut their authority to override her.
“It’s a little unsettling,” Weimann said. “I just don’t think the public realizes how much power you wield now. Congratulations.”
At that point in the contentious meeting, fellow board member Dennis Dupras packed his things and left in disgust. Weimann said he was “very disappointed in the current director,” and then left the board members’ table to take a seat among the audience for the rest of the meeting.
Two other board members, Debra Bronson and Chair Cristy Willer remained seated along with McClure, while member Alice Qannik Glenn continued to participate via Zoom.
Sandy Graham expressed frustration over what now appeared to be an incoherent process by which citizens could challenge books.
Library board member Qannik Glenn chimed in saying she recognizes that aspects of the book may not be up to everyone’s taste, but she appreciated the “overarching themes” of inclusivity and acceptance.
Board Chair Willer clarified that the new process basically ends with whatever McClure decides.
One member of the audience wanted to know whether McClure had ever taken into consideration that the challenged book may actually violate state law regarding the dissemination of indecent material to minors. If it does, what’s to prevent some parents from suing the city, he asked.
“I’m concerned as a citizen that there is no legal review,” the audience member added.
The assistant municipal attorney refused to offer any legal opinion during the meeting, which prompted Graham to reiterate that the library is duty bound to follow both city and state laws.
Graham then listed a number of issues her book challenge has exposed, namely that children are given unfettered access to check out books, but parents can’t be informed of what they have checked out. This fundamentally undermines a parent’s ability to consent or even monitor what their child is exposed to, she noted.
Library board member Qannik Glenn chimed in, saying she recognizes that aspects of the book may not be up to everyone’s taste, but she appreciated the “overarching themes” of inclusivity and acceptance of all sexual identities and body types. Such books, she said, “support children.”
Board Chair Willer defended those sections which instruct teens on how to engage in sexting, practice anal sex and find their favorite online porn stars.
Weimann, now sitting with the audience, retorted that the book is “pornographic,” and “damages children.” He said placing it in a children’s section is “criminal,” and called on the city attorney to summon the courage to give a legal opinion on the suitability of the book for children in light of city and state law.
She refused.
Board Chair Willer spoke towards the end of the one-hour meeting, saying she had read the book cover-to-cover and found it to be “engaging.”
She defended the sections which instruct teens on how to engage in sexting, practice anal sex and locate their favorite online porn stars.
“It seemed to me that it uses teen appropriate language and discussion around issues that are appropriate for teenagers,” Willer asserted, adding that the book makes “information accessible” in a way that a child’s parent may not be able or willing to convey.
With regard to the book’s porn and sexting instructions, Willer said she sees those parts through “different lenses.”
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“I understand that I’m seeing this from my lens, but through that lens it didn’t seem to me that the book was promoting these behaviors really, at all,” she said. “It was acknowledging that some kids will sext and that some kids will engage in sexual behavior and some kids will watch pornography. And if they’re doing that, is there a way to do that safely and produce less harm – emotional, physical, whatever?”
In Willer’s estimation, the book gives kids pointers on how to engage in these activities more safely.
“I think that is very useful for kids – for teenagers – who are trying to find their way around that period of time that is so confusing,” she said.
At the end of the meeting, an obviously frustrated Weimann asked Library Director McClure if the library filters porn on its computers, which she affirmed it did.
He then asked, if it were up to her, would she remove those filters?
McClure shot back: “I don’t think that’s a relevant question.”
TAKING ACTION
— Click here to contact Anchorage Municipal Attorney Anne Helzer, email Anne.Helzer@anchorage.gov
— To contact the Library Advisory Board, call 907-343-2892 or email DLGOVBCLLibraryAdvisoryBoard@anchorageak.gov
— To contact Library Director Virginia McClure, email virginia.mcclure@anchorageak.gov or call 907-343-2892
— Click here to contact Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson.
32 Comments
The city attorney would not weigh in on the legal aspect of that book and its pornographic companions? It is time for Anchorage residents to start suing the library system and the muni.
There is no safe way to have sex as a child. 12-18 year olds are children. There is no safe porn, it just creates the desire to look more into it. These kids need love, not unhealthy advice.
File Police reports. Make them defend their grooming in criminal court.
This.
We need to have a good old fashioned book burning !
The next debate would be to take it the legislature. Do grown men have the right to collect, retain, view, and distribute child porn? Cause right now the Federal Bureau Investigation sends an adult to jail. Here, these leftist are arguing minors have the right to make and distribute porn for others.
Check the books out and don’t return them. Pay the fines. Do it again. Protecting children is an imperative, and if these perverts won’t do it, we must.
Excellent idea.
Tamra That is called ‘stealing’, which is a misdemeanor crime. So you are willing to debase yourself and commit sin to achieve your goal of being bigoted? The Lord weeps at your embrace of Satan’s agenda.
There is this image projected among progressives that a hardy Nazi bonfire of books, turning classics into BTU’s and ashes, is synonymous with removing “The Advocate” from children library shelves.
Inclusivity and acceptance, the famous buzz words of the woke community. Such books support children?? How? They don’t support children rather I believe it supports an adults perverse desire, these folks should absolutely not be around children, at all. If these institutions cannot stand up for protecting children then they should not exist.
Agree with you Brian and Tamra
We can sit around the bonfire, then toss in those disgusting library books end of story.
Get your kids out of these woke sick disgusting schools.
Anchorage is a cesspool of a city , just like Sodom and Gomorrah.
Thank you for your thorough coverage of this
pervasive problem, Joel. Every person working in the education system who pushes this garbage is following the dictates of Satan, grooming these innocent children to become pedophiles, and they should all be gathered up and arrested for corruption of minor children.
These ideologies have a right under the freedom our constitution gives us. The public funding of this crap has been co-opted and stolen from the people! The threat is very real and people better fight like hell to stop this! Standing around and telling yourself it’s going to be ok ain’t working!
There is a concerted effort to groom children into homosexuality and pedophilia by liberals everywhere.
Parents need to be more involved and voice their opinions about our public library. The attached link will give you a general idea of the types of literature, that may be inappropriate or even illegal, at the Loussac library. It’s worth watching.
https://youtu.be/JVY3FBcN2uw?t=1080
Thank you, Mr. Weimann!
Somewhat ironically, I stopped bringing my children to the library as soon as my oldest had learned to read. I didn’t want him to read the offensive fliers that were posted throughout the entryway, and I couldn’t trust the content on the shelves in the children’s sections when the pride theme started showing up. Nonetheless, I do want to promote a virtuous citizenry and avoid the corruption of our youth, so I will remain engaged.
I am particularly disappointed in McClure, and I appreciate you pointing out that the library has porn filters on its computers. Why then wouldn’t we take action to keep pornographic content off the shelves? Furthermore, if adults are prosecuted for possession of, distribution of, or even intent to distribute child pornography, how on earth can it be legal to promote the viewing, making, and sharing of child pornography as this book does?! This seems like a no-brainer for the attorney present at the meeting.
This is going to take a vocal concerted effort by as many Anchorage residents as possible. Use those contacts Joel has posted at the end of the article and be relentless, albeit polite. Those of us outside Anchorage can be vocal also as many do access the Loussac as well and take kids there.
Why is the Anchorage Assembly moving to control E V E R Y T H I N G within the MOA? Expect a complete takeover and onerous subjugation if Suzanne LaFrance or Chris Tuck enter City Hall as the next mayor! Heaven preserve us from such tyranny!
You guys can try to sue them. You will 100% get countersued for defamation and libel. These very posts in the message boards get saved by patriots and can be used as evidence against you all. The calls for nazi-esque book burning. Maliciously calling people groomers and pedophiles with no evidence. The book isn’t pornography. This issue has already been discussed in the public meetings. The lawyers have also stated the same. Joel has quoted them directly in his other articles. The book has oodles of educational, scientific and literary value. No rational person could conclude otherwise. He KNOWS theres no chance of a court fight winning. But he continues to mislead his audience to rile then up. Must be good for profit I guess.
Becka, good try at trying to scare people. There are rules already in place that should be enforced against the pornographic material being made available and pushed on the children I hope that a parent will finally understand that someone needs to make that first call and get the ball rolling to remove these books. These very posts in the message boards get saved by many groups – those for pornography and those against it. There certainly is a chance for parents to win a court fight given the amount of evidence already presented. Unfortunately, the left has lots of evil money backing it and that is where the battle is unbalanced. The evil has a proven track record of making threats when there is a chance that they are losing the battle. Thank you for adding another tally to the evil’s record. Justice will prevail in the end.
There is -no- evidence of any crime. The basic law as written comes nowhere near applying to this book, or any other book in the library. I’m not a lawyer and I can see the glaring holes in your logic.
For one, they are cartoons that are not depicting a real person. The law is meant to prevent victimization by making the recorded deeds of bad people from being shared or stored in any format. And it gives law enforcement the ability to use the charges as leverage against people who HAVE that material, to make them cooperate to get to the source of the videos and save the victims. For another, the laws explicitly exclude materials that are made for any of several reasons, including educational purposes, historical purposes, or literary value. Your ‘evidence’ was that you disagree with the scientific viewpoint they present, therefore you say it has no educational value. Thats not how the law works. Child abuse and human trafficking are very real problems and there are lots of victims of these heinous acts. You cheapen their suffering and make it harder to save them when you conflate educational material and try to divert law enforcement assets to waste time on a big nothing-burger.
Editor, can you please help us understand what flags these posts for moderation?
Becka, besides the comments I made to you that got flagged for moderation and I hope they are posted; I have a question for you: did the city attorney provide a legal point-of-view about the book?
My understanding was that the state AG was approached by a group of angry bigots who accused the library and politicians of grooming and violating Alaskas child porn law. He flat out told them that there is already a legal process to challenge library books and that THAT was the appropriate avenue to address the issue. The library board and the librarians can all probably quote the laws to you at this point. Joel quoted the statute himself and quoted the statements from the library people that clearly exempts educational books from violating obscenity/child porn. Of course then he misrepresented those facts and made a wild claim unsupported by law or court ruling in ANY state. But he does that all the time, so no surprise.
The irony is that there is already a pretty stringent set of laws and rules governing how library books are reviewed and approved. Supreme Court Precedence is actually that it violates students rights to remove library books simply because you disagree with the contents.
There IS NO legal opinion to issue because no laws have been broken.
Take a chill pill. This isn’t your place. You are a guest here. Your place is Blue Alaskan or Alaska Landmine. Don’t turn out like Lucinda or Maureen at MRAK where no one agrees them while They continue agitating and stirring up trouble like name-calling persons they disagree. That goes for all the other new dissenting readers. Becka You come to us like you are better than us yet you sink low name calling people with a disagreeing opinion Bigots, which I unsure if people today really understand that word’s meaning let alone if they could see it in themselves. For one example a bigot comes across they believe they are better than those around them.
If this book is perfectly defensible and the AG has weighed in, etc, why did the Assembly find it necessary to remove the library advisory board’s power to vote for or against such books and to vest all such power only in the hands of the library director?
If they *know* they’re standing on such *solid legal ground*, why the need for the switcheroo?
Have you not paid attention to what the anti-gay people on here are saying? Aunt sally, tamra nygard, friendof humanity, the guy in this thread accusing gays of grooming children into homosexuality. Thats such an old discredited slur that gays have been joking for 30 years that they’ll win a new toaster oven if they convert enough straight guys! Obvious bigotry is obvious. When you refer to entire groups of people as ‘disease ridden degenerates’ and the other things you say, that is textbook bigotry. You just did it too. You compared me with other ‘undesirables’ and said I was a ‘guest’ here, as if you have any more of a right to be here than I do. Shame on you.
Becka, I have no problem with gay people and I do not hate them. The gay people in my extended family do not have a problem with me and they do not hate me either. They live their lives, I live mine. I treat their “spouses” with respect because their “spouses” are humans also. The choices they make may not get them far in God Almighty’s world, but that is their choice. I do have a problem with people forcing me to do their song and dance. Children should not be forced to accept a lifestyle. When they are legal adults, they can choose.
Jen, the definition of Bigot is “a person who is obstinately or unreasonably attached to a belief, opinion, or faction, especially one who is prejudiced against or antagonistic toward a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular group.” People who think a sexual education book is pornography, that librarians are groomers, and that obscenity laws are being broken by adding award winning graphic novels to library shelves, are indeed expressing bigoted views.
So, in other words, anyone who disagrees with you is a bigot. Got it!