Fisher

One of the issues the Iowa House Republicans have been working on for several years now is the issue of school and public libraries providing material, mostly books, that rational people would consider pornographic. In past years we have passed legislation barring our public schools from providing these pornographic books to our children, but we had not implemented any such restrictions on our public libraries with the understanding that parents could monitor their children’s access. The response to these restrictions by some Iowa libraries and schools was to thwart the intent of the law by allowing libraries to send a bookmobile to the public schools and make these pornographic books available in the school parking lot. Some libraries also went out of their way to put these books up front on display in order to make them readily noticed by our children.

At the center of this defiance of the law is the fact that libraries and schools are exempt from laws against distributing pornography to children, an exemption implemented many years ago when sex education became common in our schools. At that time the public could trust our schools and libraries to use common sense and stick to the biological necessities. That time is long gone.

Also at the center of this defiance is the American Library Association’s “Bill of Rights and Freedom to Read” policies that most libraries align with. The ALA policy states that “A person’s right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views.” In other words, it’s the ALA’s view that children should be allowed to access pornographic books and other materials. I have a letter from an Iowa library stating that they will not place an age restriction on DVD checkouts either, opening the door for minors to check out pornographic videos as well as books.

The shocking reality of this legal exemption for libraries and schools coupled with the ALA policies, is that a parent can trust that an operator of a pornographic store will use more discretion than a librarian when it comes to allowing children to access pornography. Read that last sentence again.

Recently, the book “Icebreaker” was allowed to be checked out by a 13-year-old girl from the Sioux Center Public Library. “Icebreaker” is an adult book which depicts graphic sex scenes between teenage characters in the book. It is pornography. The cartoon-like cover on the book looks precisely like a teenage novel, not a graphicly sexual adult novel. I have provided the newspapers that I’ve sent this newsletter to with a copy of two pages of the book, with a request to print them for all to see. I know they won’t print it, because it’s too graphic. This illustrates that if it’s too graphic for the newspaper, then why is it acceptable for our children?

When the child’s parents complained to the Sioux Center Library and requested some simple safeguards be put in place to prevent children from accessing these books, the Library Director and the majority of the library board voted to continue to allow children unrestricted access to these types of books. Representative Skyler Wheeler who represents Sioux Center has taken on this issue with that library, and many other members of the legislature are in full support of his effort.

Since many of our Iowa libraries are subverting the intent of the law preventing such pornographic materials in our schools and openly allowing children to access pornography at the library, it’s time for the legislature to take further action. In the coming session I will be pressing for legislation to remove the exemption for distributing pornography by libraries and schools. Perhaps then the public libraries and their associations will pay attention and protect our children from pornography instead of pushing it on them.

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Dean Fisher, a Republican from Montour, represents District 53 in the Iowa House.