This morning the Louisiana Freedom Caucus put out a press release which might well have a decent-sized impact on how the state’s libraries fare at the Legislature in future years…

The Louisiana Freedom Caucus (LAFC) is joining fellow State Freedom Caucus Network states in condemning the American Library Association (ALA) for electing as its new president a self-professed “lesbian Marxist” who is a proponent of “Queering the Catalog” in public libraries.

ALA president-elect Emily Drabinski is set to take over this month as the new head of the group. This large member organization uses public money to not only train librarians and support staff, but according to its own website to promote the LGBTQIA+ agenda. This includes Drag Queen Story Hour for ages as young as toddlers, Rainbow Roundtables that push lists of children’s books for inclusion in libraries, some of which contain graphic pornographic images of male genitalia to instruct young school children in the performance of explicit homosexual activities.

The destruction of the nuclear family has long been a goal of Marxist activists as they seek to undermine American ideals. The election of an openly Marxist president of the group has helped to expose the extent of the corruption of this publicly-funded organization.

As is well documented in Ms. Drabinski’s activities on Twitter, she does not limit her passions to exposing school children to sexually graphic materials but also promotes teaching critical race theory and “equity” of outcomes in life. These are elements of the radical Marxist ideals that are diametrically opposed to America’s founding principles of a level playing field with equality of opportunity for all Americans regardless of race.

We call on the Louisiana Library Association to divest itself from the ALA and all of its un-American, Marxist programs and rhetoric.

“Traditional American values have their basis in Judeo-Christian teachings and traditions. It was on this basis that our nation was founded, and on which our society has operated for over 250 years. The fact that the American Library Association would use public funds to push an openly Marxist agenda, which could not be more un-American, is an astounding example of the deterioration of our culture. We call upon the Louisiana Library Association to divest itself from this group and its teachings, and to return to its traditional role of education and providing positive, uplifting opportunities,” said Louisiana Freedom Caucus Chairman Alan Seabaugh.

We’ve talked about this a couple of times here at The Hayride, including in a post back in February when we noted that it’s not sustainable for public libraries to engage in things like Drag Queen Story Hour or placing gay porn in the kids’ sections, especially when prominent political figures like Attorney General Jeff Landry begin getting involved…

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.

That post traced out the natural evolution of all of this…

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.

The thing to remember is that a public library is not a core social good that government needs to provide. You may think of it as one, but when you consider that for the money states and local governments spend on libraries everybody in the country could get a Kindle or some other related device and a pretty robust Amazon Prime membership which would allow virtually unlimited book-reading, the promotion of literacy and book-reading simply does not require traditional brick-and-mortar libraries.

So what we’re arguing over is whether to continue a jobs program for people whose profession is less and less relevant all the time.

We’re not here telling you that it’s time to defund all the libraries – though there is little question that the library system in East Baton Rouge Parish is so grossly overfunded that it’s an insult to fiscal competency. But what we will say is that a library system run by people whose decisions don’t reflect the values of a community is a library system which will soon lose the confidence and support of that community.

And if the Emily Drabinskis of the world want to continue forcing critical race theory and the queer agenda into the library systems, with the support of the state librarians’ associations, it’s going to be the end of government support for their profession. At least in states like Louisiana, where wokeness is in significant disfavor with the majority of the populace.

So we’ll see what Louisiana’s library association says in response to the Freedom Caucus’ call. Especially if Landry or someone sharing his concerns about the quality of the offerings in the libraries should win this fall’s governor’s race. Because if the Freedom Caucus is rebuffed, that will be remembered.