There really shouldn’t be a controversy over the effort, now being led by Attorney General Jeff Landry here in Louisiana, to clean up the offerings of books at libraries to kids with respect to sexually explicit material. That there seems to be one is a really good indication of just how debauched our culture is.

Most people would agree that sexualizing kids is a bad thing. And most people would agree that cultural content – movies and TV, internet videos, music and books, etc. – makes a huge impression on kids, perhaps even more significant than on adults. So making sure cultural content kids see isn’t replete with sexual suggestion is a viable, perhaps even vital, state interest.

But we’re now having a controversy over this because there are people working in public libraries across the country, and that includes Louisiana, who have decided to feature sexually explicit books in their children’s sections. You’d think they’d get fired immediately for doing that, and you’d be wrong. When citizens’ groups have raised a stink over it, the people running the libraries have fought back and created the narrative that those citizens’ groups are book-burners and book-banners.

Because offering 50 Shades of Grey and The Story of O to kids might be pornography. But if they’re sexually explicit books about gay or trans life, including books written by sex shop owners and crypto-pedophiles, it’s a civil rights violation. That’s where we are. And now that Landry has waded into this fight we’re going to have a donnybrook about it…

Attorney General Jeff Landry is looking to put restrictions on certain books children have access to in public libraries. But some fear the suggestions are targeting the LGBTQ community.

The report by the Attorney General, dubbed “Protecting Innocence”, claims it is aiming to help children by keeping them from checking out “sexually explicit” content from public libraries.

“Nowhere in this report do we call for the censoring or banning of books. This is about what is appropriate for children,” said Landry.

The attorney general emphasized that claiming the report is censorship or a book ban would not be accurate. But some librarians are not in favor of limiting access to books. There are already policies in place to keep certain materials away from children’s sections.

The Louisiana Library Association has this statement pinned to its homepage:

“The Louisiana Library Association denounces censorship of any kind, particularly in libraries. The LLA Code of Ethics, adopted by the membership in 1981 and located in the LLA Manual, makes clear our stance: Librarians must resist all efforts by groups or individuals to censor library materials. The American Library Association also condemns censorship and clearly states through the Library Bill of Rights that restricting access to library materials is a form of censorship, stating that “Attempts to restrict access to library materials violates the basic tenets of the Library Bill of Rights”. Censorship always has been and always will be antithetical to librarianship. We stand with our colleagues and library users in fighting censorship in all its forms in Louisiana libraries.“

“Despite what they said, a large number of them are LGBTQ. It’s clear to anyone who starts to look at the details that that population is absolutely being targeted,” said a member of the Louisiana Library Association, who asked to remain anonymous.

The books deemed “sexually explicit” in the report are:

• “Fun Home” by Alison Bechdel
• “Gender Queer: A Memoir” by Maia Kobabe
• “Breathless” by Jennifer Niven
• “The Lawn Boy” by Jonathan Evison
• “Blankets” by Craig Thompson
• “The ‘V’ Word” by Amber Keyser
• “Jack of Hearts” by L.C. Rosen
• “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson
• “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison

Several of the books document exploration of sexuality and gender. When asked if any of the books on the list are for children, the librarian said they are adult or young adult and would not be placed in the children’s section.

These are all books containing graphic descriptions of sex, most of which push homosexuality or other “exotic” sexualities. And you’re obviously a prude if you don’t want you tax dollars used to promote them to kids.

And contra the claims by the anonymous librarian WVLA-TV interviewed for their story, if these things were in the adult section of the libraries around the state nobody would have gotten ginned up about this.

We can strip out the moral panic around this. Here’s what it’s really about and we shouldn’t shy away from it or clothe it in virtuous terms.

It’s about power, plain and simple. It has been from the very beginning.

Librarians as a profession is now one of the most heavily infiltrated by the cultural Marxist crowd of any in the country, and the intersectionalist/critical theory indoctrination is nearly complete. This means the promotion of as much subversive material as they can get away with, so LGBTQ stuff being pushed on kids is core to the mission. And libraries even in heavily Republican areas look like college gender studies departments, particularly in the children’s or young adult sections.

They’re doing it because they can, and because the effect doing it will have is to shape the next generation so that not only are non-traditional lifestyles, sexual and otherwise, accepted but they’re seen as preferred and dominant. If they’re not pushed back on they will achieve that dominance.

And if you don’t think that’s a real thing, go turn on your TV and see the cascade of woke messaging carried by every network show and movie. It’s an entirely different reality being presented as normal than the vast majority of Americans know to be true.

This is being done because it furthers the power ambitions and ideologies of the people in charge of the libraries.

And Landry is getting involved because he has much different ideologies and power ambitions. Landry thinks that he and the people who share his worldview will do a better job for society with that power.

While you might find it icky that politicians like Landry would get involved in these cultural battles, you should understand something – Landry isn’t the one who created this battle. He isn’t even really on offense. What Landry is trying to do is to enforce the current norm – or at least, the norm from 20 years ago that most people still think exists. Which is that you don’t show kids a bunch of books extolling the virtues of gay sex.

People want politicians to stay out of the cultural battles, but the problem is that if Jeff Landry won’t get involved then there is nobody with enough stroke to make a difference who will. We’ve already thrown fits when the churches weigh in on all of this, and we’ve banned pastors and priests from upholding traditional moral standards in public institutions. We’ve gone from demanding a separation of church and state to separating church from public life.

And that means the Hard Left gang who wants to show your kids gay sex books can’t be opposed at all, or else it’s an example of Nazis having book bonfires.

Here’s how this ends: either we get serious about upholding these standards, or we’ll have to start defunding the libraries. There really isn’t any other way. Because you can’t ask the majority of the public which opposes the sexualization and racialization of our kids, not to mention the other cultural aggressions the Hard Left never ceases to promulgate, to go on subsidizing it. It won’t happen. Eventually, it’ll all break down.

Truth is, it already has.

So who’s going to have the power? Will it be the Hard Left whose march through the institutions has put them in position to impose their agenda on libraries you pay for, or will it be the people we elect to control those taxpayer-funded institutions?

Nobody elected the Hard Left. Oh, sure, there are mayors and city councilmen here and there who subscribe to those ideological fetishes. But on the whole, they’re in positions of power because of indifference and self-selection. Not that many people want to be librarians, and those who do tend to be leftists, so the Left ultimately controls the libraries. That’s hardly a proper reflection of community morals.

And Landry is a prude and a demagogue for standing against this, which can properly be considered as a conspiracy against the public.

Just remember this is about power when you’re tempted to join the faux-libertarian caterwauling about this controversy. Were it not for the active effort to use institutions your tax dollars pay for to push an alien agenda you didn’t vote for, Jeff Landry wouldn’t be wasting his time having this fight.