Alabama Public Library Service chairman John Wahl revealed Tuesday that more than 8,000 public comments flooded the agency during a 45-day public comment session, with more than 6,000 of those letters supporting the change that would require books positively depicting the transgender experience be relocated to the adult section.
But the room erupted into chaos as board member Ron Snider, the previous board chairman, revealed that the Alabama Republican Party had sent out two emails in the waning days of the session urging people to sign onto a form letter supporting the code changes. Wahl serves as the chair of the Alabama Republican Party, although he did not send out the letters personally.
“I think it’s important to point out that up until Oct. 13, there had been almost no comments made with respect to these proposals,” Snider said. “It was on Oct. 13, John, that you had the Republican Party that you chair send out emails soliciting support, and that’s when we received over 6,000 responses in two days that were primarily form letters.”
This seemed to be news to most of the people in attendance, although Williesha Morris of AL.com broke the story earlier that morning.
People in the audience shouted out that Wahl was a cheater. Past Alabama Library Association president Matt Layne asked “So this was pre-decided?” One woman shouted about Wahl voting with a fraudulent ID.
Wahl defended himself, telling the crowd that he had not sent out the emails himself and arguing that “several groups” delivered “large quantities on the final day.”
“Before Oct. 14, there were 873 submissions,” Wahl said. “The percentage before any mass boxes were brought in was 69.6 percent in favor of the code change, 30.4 opposed.”
The gap was much closer between speakers at the public hearing on Tuesday, with roughly 60 percent in favor of the code changes and 40 percent opposed.
Elizabeth Williams, leader of the Baldwin County chapter of Read Freely Alabama, took her public comment session to assert that the numbers are irrelevant.
“I think it’s great that there’s a public comment period before changes can be made to the admin code,” Wiliams said. “But I want to remind you that rights are not subject to referendum. It doesn’t matter how many letters you may have gotten from people who think viewpoint discrimination by the government is perfectly acceptable, those folks don’t get to waive the First Amendment on behalf of all Alabamians.”
Williams pointed to Alabama’s history of laws prohibiting interracial marriage and a 1960s fight in Alabama libraries over a book that depicted a white rabbit and black rabbit being married.
“They were so worried about protecting the children from such inappropriate and illegal ideas that they got a state senator on their side and organized a pressure campaign
against this very institution,” Williams said. “But the APLS director at the time – her name was Emily Reed –she said no, she said that diverse viewpoints belonged in Alabama libraries,
even viewpoints that upset some people, even viewpoints the government disfavored.
“About 10 years ago, they wrote a play about her. It’s called Alabama Story, and so far it’s been performed in more than 75 cities across the country. In that play, APLS is the hero of the story – standing up to political pressure to censor books about bunnies in love. And now, here we are 60-something years later trying to decide if it’s OK to censor books about
a crayon in the wrong wrapper or a boy who wants to be a cheerleader.
“History is never kind to censors, and I want each one of you to think about how you want to be remembered. When they write this Alabama Story, will you be the hero or the villain?”
Each side was represented by a mix of perennial figures in the battle as well as people who showed up for the first time to make their voices heard.
It’s not yet clear how many of the amendment supporters want the APLS board to make the changes as proposed by board member Amy Minton and how many want the board to take one step further and remove all material positively depicting transgender and homosexual lifestyles from the library.
Those changes have been pushed by groups like Clean Up Alabama and Eagle Forum, and have been promoted by Minton herself despite going further than the amendment she herself proposed. The form letter pushed by ALGOP in the final days of the session notably eschews that language and directly supports only the changes prescribed by Minton’s original amendment.
Individuals supporting the code changes yesterday brought a variety of viewpoints. Some focused on the topic of the amendment—relocating or removing books that positively depict gender transition or the concept of more than two genders—while others veered into homosexuality as well.
Chuk Shirley, one of the founders of Clean Up Alabama, reflected his organization’s push to rid libraries of materials that positively depict homosexual marriage.
“Our libraries should see it as their mission to promote the reading of good literature to children,” Shirley said. “We must find the books that promote truth, goodness and beauty and make them available for our communities.
“Therefore, we have to take a position on what makes a book good. Is it good to teach children that boys can be girls and girls can be boys, and thus being a boy means nothing and being a girl means nothing? Is it good for us to teach them it’s impossible to be wrong about your gender expression? Is it good for us to teach children that marriage is not between one man and one woman but simply between two consenting parties?”
“Perhaps you hear these questions and think ‘Who’s to judge? Whose idea of the good should we go with?’ The answer is that we should go with the one that makes the most sense.”
Martha Sham of Auburn brought a display of images from sex education and other books primarily in the adult section of the Auburn Public Library.
“Codify into law these conservative restrictions to stop the filthy Sodom and Gomorrah images that are now flooding the libraries,” Sham said. “The path to HIV and AIDS, it is incurable, and same-sex fake marriages; heck with 2015 quote ‘laws.'”
Opponents of the changes say the code equates transgender and gay people with perversion and seeks to limit their visibility.
“It breaks my heart to see my family treated so callously,” said June Schmoeker, who self-identified as transgender. “We are not pornography. We are citizens, neighbors and patriots just like yourselves.”
A few issues were brought up outside of the main discussion.
Lindsy Gardner, director of the O’Neal Public Library in Mountain Brook, argued that APLS should allow 16- and 17-year-olds to get library cards independently in step with other rights they have such as driving, making medical decisions and attending dual enrollment courses.
Paul Garris, head of the North Shelby County Library board taken over by Republicans last year, brought up an issue with other libraries in the area not restricting minor library cards.
“What good is it to move problem books to adult section if children still have access to it,” Garris asked.
Snider, who has become increasingly vocal in opposition to the rest of the APLS board, did not mince words about Tuesday’s exercise.
“Let us no longer contend that this board’s action is not imposing censorship. That’s what it’s doing,” Snider said. “It’s politically motivated, and it is taking away control from local libraries and our local governing bodies.”
