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There鈥檚 a flurry of stories warning about the return of book banning. I think we鈥檙e seeing them for a couple of reasons. National Banned Books week was last month, and because of the crisis facing the only library in the township of .

Elaine Quijano, CBS correspondent reports, “a small Michigan town is locked in a war over words. The battle is over these five books with LGBTQ themes.”

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In 2020, the Jamestown Library mounted a display of award-winning young adult books, which included a memoir called 鈥淕ender Queer,鈥� about growing up non-binary.

Nobody seemed to mind 鈥� until a video critique of the book, displaying some of its graphic illustrations, went viral. And suddenly, the library鈥檚 director, who wears pink hair and was openly queer, found herself under attack.

Jamestown is a mostly-Christian farming community of about 9,900 people. The library spends most of its budget on Christian fiction. Of the library鈥檚 67,000 books, only 90 had an LGBTQ keyword. But the social media mob labeled the library director a groomer and pedophile, and things got scary enough that she quit.

And then, in the most recent levy election, residents voted to defund the library.

One of the defunders was Dean Smith 鈥� who said 鈥� this was not聽about book banning, he just 鈥渄id not want to see any sexually or violently graphic material displayed for kids to see when they come in the library.

“No one wants the library closed, but they felt a strong message needed to be set. I’m not advocating for book banning, censorship, or anything that violates the First Amendment,” Smith said. “I am suggesting a compromise that materials that generate complaints from patrons remain available, but not displayed, placed under a counter, jacketed, next to the dumpster, whatever.”

Well, it turns out that鈥檚 exactly what the former director did, but she was run out of town anyway.

I myself dislike books about sex and violence, especially any book with 鈥淪hades of Grey鈥� in the title. And yet romance and adventure titles are on display everywhere. Not just in libraries 鈥� I鈥檝e seen them in grocery stores! Across from the artisan cheese!

But when I see one of these books on display, I take a stand. I don鈥檛 read it. Unless someone tries to forbid me from reading it, and then I probably would.

And as for what my children read back when they were kids, I鈥檓 pretty sure we shielded them from anything graphically sexual. And yet, somehow, they found out about sex anyway.

So, I would say if people like Dean Smith feel they need to defund the library to control the kind of books other people鈥檚 children see, that鈥檚 their right. Majority rules.

But the kids eventually find out about sex.

By the way, a pro tip for Christians who want to shield their kids from sex and violence. Lock up your copy of Genesis if you haven鈥檛 already.

Listen to Seattle鈥檚 Morning News with Dave Ross and Colleen O鈥橞rien weekday mornings from 5 鈥� 9 a.m. on 成人X站 Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the聽podcast here.