North Dakota considers outlawing “sexually explicit” books in libraries

According to a bill that state senators started debating on Tuesday, books with “sexually explicit” content, such as those that represent sexual orientation or gender identity, would be prohibited from being checked out of public libraries in North Dakota.

The legislation, which applies to visual representations of “sexually explicit” content and calls for up to 30 days of incarceration for librarians who refuse to remove the offending books, was discussed by the GOP-dominated state House Judiciary Committee but was not put to a vote.

The idea comes amid a national trend of Republican-backed proposals that would outlaw books with LGBTQ themes, but these bans have often only applied to school libraries rather than public ones.

The bill’s proponents said that it would protect children’s innocence and limit their exposure to porn.

However, some said the policy is “steeped in prejudice” and would let the government to suppress content that is not truly offensive.

The bill’s sponsor, Dickinson representative and House Majority Leader Mike Lefor, said that public libraries now house books with “disturbing and unpleasant” material, such as those that identify virginity as a foolish concept and claim that gender is changeable.

Lefor claimed that exposure to such information in childhood has been linked to addiction, low self-esteem, diminished value of relationships, rising divorce rates, unprotected sex among young people, and poor well-being, but he provided no data to back up these assertions.

Autumn Richard, a Stark County resident, also spoke in favor of the legislation, citing examples of explicit material in the children’s comic book “Sex Is a Funny Word” and the graphic novel “Let’s Talk About It: The Teen’s Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human” that are both available in public libraries.

Richard countered that while many portions of the books include material that she said was damaging to children, others may give useful knowledge about contraception, body image, and abusive relationships.

Although proponents of the measure in North Dakota frequently referred to the sexual content as “obscene,” detractors claimed that the material in question is not truly regarded as being obscene under the law.

As Cody Schuler of the American Civil Liberties Union of North Dakota said in opposition to the measure, “almost 50 years ago, the (U.S.) Supreme Court set the high constitutional threshold that characterizes obscenity.”

According to Schuler, obscenity is a specific, well-defined category of free speech that excludes any work with significant literary, aesthetic, political, or scientific significance. Few, if any, books have been classified as offensive, and the criteria for prohibiting a library from disseminating a book are considerably stricter, Schuler continued.