During Wednesday night’s public comments period at the Soldotna City Council, a gentleman walked up to the podium to voice his concern about some “degenerate books” in the Soldotna Public Library.
Juno Dawson’s book “This Book Is Gay” was found in the Soldotna Public Library and brought to the attention of the City Council for sexually explicit content.
According to the testimony of Ethan Van Babel of Soldotna, he claims the book describes the topics of oral and anal sex, alongside some other explicit examples.
During most of Van Babel’s allotted three minutes, he read a section of the book to the council.
“[Finally, my misunderstanding about rubbing two peens together wasn’t far off the mark]- rubbing them together in one hand feels awesome- MEGA COMBOHANDIE …2. Blowis: Oral sex is popping another dude’s peen in your mouth or, indeed, popping yours in his. There is only one hard and fast rule when it comes to blow jobs- WATCH THE TEETH,” read the speaker. “Bumming: It is a universal truth that many men like sticking their willies inside things. …Well, in the absence of a vagina, gay and bi-men make excellent use of the back door. Wanna know a secret? Straight people have anal sex all the time too. Another one? Straight men like stuff up their bums just as much as gay ones.”
“Why are our public dollars purchasing books like this for our public library, which is available to anyone 10 years or older with a library card to check out, no questions asked? It shouldn’t be that way, that’s all,” said Van Babel.
The Soldotna City Council did not comment.
While the Soldotna Public Library has faced some struggles regarding LGBTQ+ situations in the past, Soldotna residents are not the only individuals who have questioned certain topics being provided to their children.
Quite similarly, back in March, the Northern Justice Project (NJP) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Alaska filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to return 56 book titles to Mat-Su Borough School District (MSBSD) library shelves. Both institutions are claiming that the primary reason these books were removed is due to their LGBTQ themes and/or their having protagonists of color.
After a joint assembly/ school board meeting, the school board removed 56 books from its shelves, including titles like The Bluest Eye, Slaughterhouse-Five, and The Kite Runner. These quotes reference community concerns over the inclusion of certain LGBTQ themes and concerns about the written portrayal of pornographic content.
According to the state of Pennsylvania, this exact book has been discovered in numerous Pennsylvania libraries, including Benton Middle/Senior High School, Hopewell Senior High School, and Pocono Mountain East Middle School.
Due to parents expressing concerns regarding their child’s reading curriculum, the Senate Education Committee hosted a hearing to review sexually explicit content that was provided in schools.
In the end, this resulted in the creation of Senate Bill 7, which would require schools to identify any sexually explicit content in any school curriculum, books, and other related materials.
It also required the parents to review and give consent for their child to participate in class discussions or read the book as assigned. If the parent does not consent, the teacher must provide the student with an alternative non-explicit book.
To learn more about Pennsylvania’s SB 7, click here.
