Missouri's dark ages never go away

A new bill proposed in Missouri aims to prevent inappropriate sexual content from getting into the hands of kids, but critics are warning it amounts to censoring and could land public librarians in jail.

The bill was introduced earlier this month by Missouri state Rep. Ben Baker (R), who has argued that the measure is meant to protect children when they visit their public libraries.

“The main thing is I want to be able to take my kids to a library and make sure they’re in a safe environment, and that they’re not gonna be exposed to something that is objectionable material,” Baker told local news station KOAM.

  The Hill

Aside from the problem of being afraid of sex, Ben Baker should pay more attention to his children when he takes them to the library (hint: do you think he ever does that?) if he doesn't want them getting an education.

The bill would ban libraries that receive state funding from allowing minors access to "age-inappropriate sexual material." To identify what that content is, the bill would include the creation of "parental library review boards" made up of five locally elected community members. The boards would then review what content it considers appropriate.

If you can't ban books outright, start small and work your way up.

“This is a shockingly transparent attempt to legalize book banning in the state of Missouri,” [PEN America's deputy director of free expression research and policy, James] Tager told the Post. “This act is clearly aimed at empowering small groups of parents to appoint themselves as censors over their state’s public libraries. Books wrestling with sexual themes, books uplifting LGBTQIA+ characters, books addressing issues such as sexual assault — all of these books are potentially on the chopping block if this bill is passed.”

[...]

In his interview with KOAM, Baker addressed critics, saying his measure would not entirely ban books from the library but would only keep them out of the children's section.

Don't be surprised if this bill passes.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.