Fairhope Library Situation Still Unclear After APLS Board Pauses Funding

Following last week’s Alabama Public Library Service (APLS) Board meeting, ALPolitics.com reached out to a number of individuals and organizations for comments about the Board meeting, the Board’s actions and what they expected going forward.

APLS Board Chairman John Wahl was quick to respond, saying:

“The APLS Board has been very consistent in our commitment to safeguard children from accidentally stumbling across sexually explicit material.  The new code changes required both new policies and the actual relocation of these books out of youth sections.  The vote to suspend state funding only came after incredibly vulgar and explicit books were presented to the board by concerned parents.  These parents had already requested the Fairhope Library Board relocate them to the adult section, and their request was denied.  This left the APLS Board with no choice but to enforce the very clear state code addressing this issue.  I am very supportive of our local libraries and am committed to working with the Fairhope Library so funding can be reinstated as soon as possible.

"These are common sense requirements that keep innocent children from being exposed to inappropriate material without their parents’ consent,” Wahl continued. “We are not censoring any books and we are not banning any books.  Our goal is to put parents back in charge and let them decide what access their children have when it comes to potentially inappropriate material. The new state code gives full power to parents to decide whether their child can or cannot check books out of the adult section.

APLS Board Member Amy Minton also replied to our request quickly.

“The Alabama Code clearly defines “sexually explicit” so any books that contain anything on this list must be moved to the Adult Section of the library or ‘weeded out’ (removed) in order to qualify for STATE Funding. 

“There are NOT any exceptions for ‘Education or instructional’.  

“Any library can choose to keep whatever books they want but they will not receive state funding if the books contain any of the information clearly defined by Alabama State Code as sexually explicit.”

Minton also provided the following images defining “sexually explicit” materials.

Brady Johnson of Cullman Student Eagles, who spoke at the APLS Board meeting last week,  was also kind enough to comment:

“I attended the APLS meeting in Montgomery because I believe it is important to stand for truth and good values by exercising our first amendment right to freedom of speech. I am a junior in High School, but I believe that young people can and should make a difference in their communities. I am also passionate about protecting children from the lies of gender ideology, and I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to speak out on this issue.”

ALPolitics.com also reached out to Read Freely Alabama and to several individuals from Clean Up Alabama, but as this article went to publication they had not responded.

Following the APLS Board’s decision to cut funding from the Fairhope Library until such time as the Library comes into compliance with APLS’s codes, Read Freely Alabama began an online fundraiser to support the Library. The Fairhope City Council is also supporting the Library, and stated they had no plans to reduce its funding following the Board’s action.

ALPolitics.com welcomes your comments and civil discussion of this issue as it continues to develop.