In a 4-1 vote, the library board in Kootenai County approved a “Material Selection Policy” that promises to adhere to state laws regarding obscene materials accessible to minors.
The new policy, which was approved at a November public meeting, is being cautiously praised by Mass Resistance, the group of determined Idahoans that showed up at library meeting for months and months demanding a change in policy.
“It’s not a perfect policy,” comments Mass Resistance spokesman Arthur Schaper, “but it’s a number of steps in the right direction.”
Like other states, Idaho law prohibits lewd materials, such as pornographic magazines, from being accessible to minors. The exemption to that law is public libraries but the new policy in Kootenai County vows the library system will not hide behind the exemption any longer.
According to Schaper, the new policy includes a second policy that pleased the community.
“The library director bares the ultimate responsibility,” he says, “to ensure that those books are removed.”
Despite those clear policies, the library board approved a section in the policy called “Intellectual Freedom.” That section is filled with left-wing talking points about a “diverse community” and “freedom of access,” as if Mass Resistance is demanding the library board ban adult books, too, instead of demanding an end to grooming children.
“We're talking about obscene, pornographic, LGBT materials,” Schaper points out, “that have no business being in a public library and certainly should not be available to children.”
The “Freedom” section also praises “library rights” as defined by the American Library Association. It is not news to Schaper and his group that the ALA has devolved into a woke Marxist organization, so the reference to the ALA did not go unnoticed by a group that was already concerned it is being deceived by dishonest Marxists.
So the lesson to learn, Schaper concludes, is that the “cultural Marxists” believe they are the good guys which is why the community activists will keep watching.
