A controversial bill, which aims to provide legal cover for Alaska librarians who distribute sexually explicit material to minors, has advanced out of the Senate Education Committee and awaits its next assignment in the Judiciary Committee.
Sponsored by Senator Scott Kawasaki (D-Fairbanks), Senate Bill 238 has already generated heated debate with scores of impassioned letters from both sides of the issue being sent to lawmakers.
On March 23, however, all five Senate Education Committee members agreed to let the bill advance to its next committee. These members include Senators Löki Tobin (D-Anchorage), Gary Stevens (R-Kodiak), Jesse Bjorkman (R- Nikiski), Jesse Kiehl (D-Juneau) and Rob Yundt (R-Wasilla).
Opponents of the legislation have warned that the bill grants libraries wide latitude to order and shelve objectionable books that many parents view as sexually explicit and pornographic in nature.
Proponents of the legislation, however, claim the bill is necessary to ensure librarians have ample freedom to make these books available to the general public without fear of legal action.
The latest version of Senate Bill 238 aims to give librarians a defense against charges of “enticement of a minor, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and distribution of indecent material to minors.”
Given the ongoing controversies surrounding librarians who deliberately order and shelve objectionable children’s books, the bill is clearly aimed at countering concerned parents and local citizens who have been working for years to remove highly sexualized, graphic children’s materials from area schools and libraries. These include books in Alaska libraries that expose youth to topics such as bondage, anal and oral sex, pederasty, transgenderism, sexting and masturbation. If Kawasaki’s legislation passes, it will be much more difficult to challenge or remove these books.
ALASKA WATCHMAN DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX
The bill bans libraries from blocking books, relocating them, or requiring parental permission unless the material meets Alaska’s legal definition of obscenity: appealing to prurient interest, depicting patently offensive sexual conduct (as defined in state law), and lacking serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value when viewed as a whole under community standards.
Other provisions prohibit the removal of a book, even if it does contain highly sexualized content, so long as the passages are deemed “isolated.”
At its core, the bill amends three existing Alaska criminal statutes to create affirmative defenses for librarians, museum employees or school officials, effectively shielding them from prosecution for enticement of a minor, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, or distributing indecent material to minors when providing children with controversial books or encouraging them to check out certain materials.
TAKING ACTION
— The bill is awaiting transmittal to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Click here to contact those committee members.
— Click here to read the latest version of the bill.
1 Comment
The only reason for this bill is so that the perverts can access your children, groom them, and coopt them into sexual, homosexual, and perverted behavior long before the children are ready to discern the truth about those behaviors. There is no other possible reason for providing sexual materials that are not at all appropriate to the age of the children to whom it is provided. I see no cogent argument that any adult, regardless of them being a librarian or other authority figure, should provide these materials to kids for educational or entertainment purposes. I rather wonder that Mr. Kawasaki isn’t a bit of a freak himself since he clearly has no boundaries.