Texans file federal lawsuit alleging officials violated constitutional rights by pulling books
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Given the ongoing Republican effort to dismantle human rights and, as of late, especially LGBTQ+ rights, it can feel exhausting to figure out where to begin when it comes to combatting such hate. As Daily Kos continues to cover, for example, conservatives have made critical race theory (CRT), the existence of trans youth (and their accessing gender-affirming health care), and youth reading books by and about LGBTQ+ people and people of color into their latest rallying cries. Anything to distract from the Republican Party’s failure to lead during a literal global pandemic, after all.
In addition to organizing and voting, what can people do to push back? Well, as reported by The Texas Tribune, people are getting creative when it comes to book bans, at least. Seven residents of Llano County recently filed a federal lawsuit against the county judge, commissioners, library systems director, and library board members for banning and restricting books in its public library system. According to the lawsuit, this includes both suspending access to digital books, removing several books from shelves, and stopping new library book orders.
The suit also alleges that the library board violated the First and 14th Amendments by closing meetings to the public.
RELATED: Who is ready for a Banned Book Club here at Daily Kos?
Plaintiffs in the suit include Jeanne Puryear, Leila Green Little, Kathy Kennedy, Richard Day, Rebecca Jones, Diane Moster, and Cynthia Waring. According to the lawsuit, the plaintiffs tried to check out several books that had been removed from the system and were denied access to those texts. They believe their constitutional rights have been violated because public officials censored the books based on their content. They also believe the public officials did not give proper notice or opportunity for the community to comment on the decision.
“When government actors target public library books because they disagree with and intend to suppress the ideas contained therein,” the lawsuit states in part. “It jeopardizes the freedoms of everyone.”
Rather brilliantly, the suit also points out public libraries are not places of government “indoctrination” where people in power can “spoon-feed one-sided information” and dictate what people are allowed to read and discover.
Defendants listed in the lawsuit include Llano County Commissioners Jerry Don Moss, Peter Jones, Mike Sandoval, Linda Raschke, Milum, library board members Gay Baskin, Rhonda Schneider, and Rochelle Wells, along with Llano County Judge Ron Cunningham and library system director Amber Milum.
According to the suit, the infamous list of more than 800 titles that the Texas Education Agency took issue with came into play here, with some of the titles being removed from the county’s libraries after the list circulated. The suit does allege that the defendants removed a few children’s books even prior to the list.
The suit alleges Milum was directed to remove “all books” that depict “any type” of sexual activity or “questionable” nudity. According to the plaintiffs, there are still books that include nudity and sex on the shelves but the ones removed were part of a “censorship campaign” that targeted books that “conflicted” with the defendants’ political and religious beliefs.
At the end of the day, it’s never just about one book or another. It’s about what these books represent and teach us: empathy, compassion, and the lived experiences, thoughts, and perspectives of people who aren’t like us. Reading is a fundamental tool for teaching people more about the wider world and diversity, and of course, conservatives are eager to write these texts off as radical or inappropriate.
Why? Because they don’t want to risk young people widening their worldview and realizing that conservative beliefs are not the objective, moral truth they want them to be. After all, it’s a lot more difficult to vote against someone’s basic rights when you actually view them as a fellow human, huh?