Oklahoma House Approves Limiting Children's Access to Explicit Library Materials

by Allie Martin and Jenni Parker
March 23, 2006

(AgapePress) - - Oklahoma lawmakers have approved legislation that would place books containing sexually explicit content in an adult-only section of public libraries across the state. House Bill 2158 would withhold public library funding if books containing graphic sexual references are not placed out of the reach of minors.

The House voted the bill in last week in a vote of 60-33 after more than two hours of questions and debate. During that discussion, opponents raised the issue of censorship and criticized the legislation as an unfunded mandate that would remove local control from library boards.

But the bill's author, Representative Sally Kern (R-Oklahoma City), argued that children deserve a time of "protected innocence" and sheltered from early exposure to the sort of sexually explicit and inappropriate material with which their culture is inundated. Associated Press quotes Kern as observing that contemporary advertisers apparently "can't sell toothpaste without sex," and that even the American Library Association is "out to sexualize our children."

Lynn Rahman with Oklahomans for School Accountability feels parents should decide whether their children can have access to the kind of material dealt with in HB 2158. She believes the bill is ultimately about affirming parents' exclusive right to make that final determination.

If the legislation passes, Rahman contends, "parents will have the last say. If they want to check these books out for their children, they can do so. It isn't a complete removal, but it's just a restoration of parental right."

However, the Oklahoma activist anticipates a tough battle in the Democrat-controlled Senate. She is encouraging parents and other concerned citizens to let their state legislators know how the pro-family public feels about the measure.

"I had been putting out newsletters when the bill made it to the House, and I think I'm going to do the same thing and urge people to contact their senators," Rahman notes. Emphasizing the reasonableness of HB 2158, she points out, "No books are to be removed according to this bill -- just relocated."

AP reports that prior to the House vote, Kern distributed to her fellow legislators several excerpts from books she said were found in local libraries. The excerpts were from books that contained homosexual or sexually explicit references, and the state representative remarked, "The average citizen does not have a clue what is in the library."

Last year, Kern asked the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Library Commission to place similar books, including a homosexually-themed children's storybook called King and King, in the adult section of the library. The lawmaker's request came after she received complaints from two of her constituents about children's easy access to the inappropriate library materials.