GREENVILLE COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – The Greenville County Library’s full Board of Trustees met with a large crowd Monday afternoon to discuss a proposal to move materials out of the juvenile collection that discusses gender transition ideologies.
“We as taxpayers pay for the Greenville county library and it should reflect the values of the community,” Chaplain of the Greenville County Republican Women’s club Idell Koury said. “I am not willing to tell my kids and my grandkids about sexuality. I am not going to expose them to that, I’m not.”
Those in favor of the books being moved into an adult section say children should not have access to material they might not yet understand or that parents may not want them exposed to.
“There were graphic illustrations like an instruction manual that children don’t need to see,” Greenville County resident Barbara Jean Evans said. “This is child abuse and children can’t handle this.”
Those in favor of the books staying in sections children have access to say it allows kids the freedom to learn.
“It shows people with families like ours there is something wrong, something obscene about our families so when kids grow up like that they see themselves separated from the normal books, normal children’s books.” Greenville County resident Ash Mcnamara said.
Others in favor of the books staying say children’s lives are often depicted in books, removing the books that some may relate to would be an attack.
“Choosing to censor these books would be an attack on the first amendment,” Freedom of Libraries Advocacy Group Miles Dame said. “We often think of the first amendment as the freedom to speak but it is also the freedom to receive information.”
The proposal was tabled and sent back to the library’s materials committee for review. It will be discussed again at the next board meeting on April 24th.
