Bill Filed to Address Obscenity and Material Harmful to Minors

Decency, , , ,

A proposal at the Arkansas Legislature would make it easier to prosecute a person who gives pornographic or obscene material to children.

S.B. 81 by Sen. Dan Sullivan (R – Russellville) and Rep. Justin Gonzales (R – Okolona) generally makes it a crime to give or send “material harmful to minors” to a child.

The bill defines “material harmful to minors” to include sexual material that contains nudity or sexual activity.

The bill also eliminates exemptions for libraries and schools in the state’s obscenity statute — which would make it easier to prosecute a librarian or public school employee who distributes obscene material — and it creates a civil cause of action Arkansans can use if the state, a city, or a county distributes obscene material.

Taken together, the changes that S.B. 81 makes to Arkansas law could help address pornographic and obscene material in public libraries in Arkansas.

As we have written before, the Jonesboro public library has been at the center of multiple controversies over its decision to place books with sexually-explicit images in its children’s section while failing to adopt a policy that separates sexual material from children’s content.

Library officials have stood by their decision to share sexual material with children. The library even posted on Facebook that it isn’t the library’s responsibility to protect kids from obscenity.

Other public libraries in Arkansas have failed to separate sexual material from children’s material as well.

Public libraries are supposed to be for everyone. More and more, Family Council is hearing from people who are deeply troubled by the obscene children’s books that librarians have placed on the shelves of their local libraries.

Proposals like S.B. 81 could help protect children and families from patently inappropriate material in public libraries.

You Can Read S.B. 81 Here.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Little Rock Libraries Continue Hosting Pro-LGBT Events

Transgender, ,

The Central Arkansas Library System continues to list pro-LGBT events on its calendar.

For example, one library in Little Rock is hosting a “delightfully queer craft circle” sponsored by Teens 4 InQlusion — a Gender and Sexualities Alliance (GSA) for teens and young adults — this month.

Last year the Central Arkansas Library System defended its decision to host pro-LGBT programs geared toward youth, noting that the programs are funded in part by the Arkansas LGBTQ+ Advancement Fund at the Arkansas Community Foundation, the Alice L. Walton Foundation, Olivia and Tom Walton through the Walton Family Foundation, and the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation.

Family Council previously reported that the Arkansas Community Foundation awarded a grant to the Central Arkansas Library System to set up a Gender and Sexualities Alliance (GSA) for teens and young adults. The money is part of a $1 million fund that the Walton Family Foundation created to support pro-LGBT groups in Arkansas.

Unfortunately, public libraries in Arkansas have become a popular platform for promoting LGBT ideology and objectionable material to children and teens.

For instance, the Jonesboro public library has been at the center of multiple controversies — such as inappropriately hosting an LGBT Pride display in its children’s library, placing books with sexually-explicit images in its children’s section, and failing to adopt a policy that separates sexual material from children’s content.

That’s part of the reason voters in Craighead County voted to reduce funding for the library last November.

It should go without saying, but libraries don’t have to organize pro-LGBT events or promote inappropriate children’s books to be successful.

Public libraries are supposed to be a place where members of the community can enjoy books and learn about literature. These sorts of pro-LGBT activities are an unnecessary distraction for our public libraries.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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