House passes bill prohibiting book bans
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[March 23, 2023]
By PETER HANCOCK
Capitol News Illinois
phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com
SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois House passed a bill Wednesday that would
prohibit libraries from banning books or other material because of
partisan or doctrinal pressure, prompting strong opposition from
Republicans who called it an assault on local control.
House Bill 2789 is an initiative of Democratic Secretary of State Alexi
Giannoulias, whose office oversees the Illinois State Library and
administers several grant programs for public and school libraries as
well as adult literacy programs throughout the state.
The bill would require that as a condition of qualifying for those
grants in the future, libraries or library systems would have to adopt a
written policy prohibiting the practice of banning books. Alternatively,
they could adopt the American Library Association’s Library Bill of
Rights, which includes a statement that “(m)aterials should not be
proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval.”
The bill came in response to a wave of high-profile controversies
throughout the country, including at least one in Illinois. School
districts and public libraries have come under pressure to remove
certain material from their collections, often material dealing with
issues involving race, sexuality and gender identity.
“Banning books is the sort of behavior that was once, for good reason,
associated with the worst, most repressive and repugnant authoritarian
regimes of the mid-20th century and before,” the bill’s lead sponsor
Rep. Anne Stava-Murray, D-Naperville, said during debate on the House
floor. “The fact that this is even up for discussion in America in the
21st century is disgusting. And yet, just last year in my district, that
discussion was spurred on by a few radical parents and the Proud Boys
hate group over a book called ‘Gender Queer.’”
That book is a memoir by Maia Kobabe about a nonbinary person grappling
with issues of gender identity and sexuality as a teenager and young
adult. According to the New York Times, it has been pulled from library
shelves in dozens of school districts around the country.
One of the school districts that came under pressure to remove the book
was Community High School District 99, in Downers Grove, in Stava-Murray’s
district. According to a June 2022 Chicago Sun-Times story, the pressure
was generated by a group of conservative parents and members of the
Proud Boys, but students in the district pushed back and the board
eventually voted unanimously to keep the book on the shelves.
“Students led a community-supported effort in my district to keep the
book in the library,” Stava-Murray said. “But kids shouldn't have to be
the heroes… Nobody is forcing you or your children to check out or
purchase or read these books. If they are not consistent with your
personal beliefs, don't read them.”
PEN American, in a report on book bans around the country, identified
five enforced bans in the state between July 2021 and June 2022,
including 3 bans of Gender Queer.
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Rep. Anne Stava-Murray, D-Naperville,
speaks on the Illinois House floor Wednesday in Springfield.
(Capitol News Illinois photo by Jerry Nowicki)
Some Republicans, however, argued that public libraries are governed by
locally elected boards, and that those boards should have the authority
to decide how best to serve their communities.
“I find this a complete assault on local control,” said Rep. Martin
McLaughlin, R-Barrington Hills. “… These people volunteer as nonpartisan
elected local officials, and for the state to tell a local library
board, ‘listen to the professionals; follow the professionals’ – I don't
understand why we have local elections anymore if a bill like this
passes.”
Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer, R-Jacksonville, said that he used to serve on his
local library board and when his own children visit the library, they
are accompanied by a parent. But he said that is not necessarily the
case when they are at school using the school library.
“I am not for banning books at all,” he said. “I am for age-appropriate
materials. And so, if a parent wants their kid to have those
age-appropriate materials, they can certainly get them for them. I don't
think that a librarian is the end-all, be-all decision maker in the
state of Illinois on what books should be given to a child.”
Stava-Murray, however, rejected those arguments, saying the bill would
only add another condition onto the rules to qualify for grants
administered by the secretary of state. Last year, the office awarded
more than 1,600 grants totaling more than $62 million, including a
$4,300 grant to Downers Grove Community High School District 99.
“In terms of the argument about local control, I find that disgusting.
Local Control has long been a dog whistle for allowing statewide or
nationwide racist or bigoted policies to persist,” she said, eliciting
loud boos from the Republican side of the aisle. “Today, I just strongly
urge my colleagues to do the right thing and make sure that access to
books is not infringed upon in our state.”
The bill passed the House 69-39 with all of the no votes coming from
Republicans. Three Democrats and one Republican were recorded as present
but not voting. The bill next goes to the Senate for consideration.
“Public and school libraries are facing unprecedented censorship of
books and resources, not just in Illinois but throughout the nation,”
Giannoulias said in a statement after the vote. “This important
first-in-the-nation legislation combats book banning and upholds freedom
of speech, which America has always stood for. I applaud the Illinois
House of Representatives for passing this important measure and
encourage the State Senate to do the same.”
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news
service covering state government. It is distributed to more than 400
newspapers statewide, as well as hundreds of radio and TV stations. It
is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R.
McCormick Foundation.
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