I have spoken at length in previous articles about the Christian duty to speak light into darkness. No, I am not going all New Apostolic or Joel Osteen and suggesting we have powers. What I am suggesting is that the gospel and truth is light and that this world and its values are darkness. Whenever a Christian speaks truth, they speak light into darkness.
So here I am, again, issuing a call to Christians. But this time, I am coming to you with a specific call to action. You can do this no matter what your age, ability or education level. All you need is a computer, or a pen and paper, and a stamp.
The fight to protect children from sexually explicit material has been raging in Alabama. Whether you are aware of it or not, many public libraries across the state have books in their children's section with sexually explicit content. They did this for the sake of "inclusivity." Though it is beyond me what is inclusive about teaching children how to masturbate or that they have a sexuality at the age of 3.
Some board books aimed towards 2-4 year olds taught children that you may not be the gender you were born with, right when children are learning they have a gender at all. I can see no reason for this but to implant in children a false narrative so as to further enshrine it in society. This ideology has proven to be harmful to children. The suicide rate for children with gender dysphoria is high and entirely preventable, not by affirming a lie, but by reinforcing the truth. Further, this ideology teaches children that, in essence, the person they were dies and they become a new person altogether, as a phoenix rising from ashes. Anyone in disagreement is doing violence to your new identity, killing it. Thus, it is proper to protect and refute the truth with all violence necessary. It is little wonder the pattern arising of violent crime committed by trans children. Indeed, one need look no further than the horrific shooting at a Catholic school in Minnesota to see this play out.
In an effort to protect children from inadvertently encountering this content on public library shelves, the Alabama Public Library passed a code change last year, requiring such material to be removed from the children's section or risk losing state funding. The question then became, what constitutes sexual content? So, in an effort to further clarify, the APLS is seeking to further amend the code to include content that pushes gender identity ideology. This would prevent children from learning at a young age that they may not be the gender God created them to be randomly, because they were perusing the shelves of your local library.
And if you think they will not randomly come upon such books, I present to you a few examples: In one local library, a book called "The Pronoun Book" was found in the children's section among the grammar books. A homeschooling family checked out the book, thinking it addressed the part of speech, only to discover it taught children that people are not always the gender they were born with, but can believe they are something else, and it is true. It went past the regular he and her and on to the they, them, zer.
Another family checked out a book at a public library called "The Emperor's New Clothes" thinking it was the same story as the identically named Hans Christian Anderson story. Nope. This book was about the Emperor wearing a dress instead, and the town cheered because he accepted his new identity.
As a mom of soon-to-be three boys, I can tell you I wouldn't have caught those books, and I am very vigilant. I know many of you feel the same. The only people who disagree and claim you can catch this yourselves are the childless defenders of this ideology. Catalogers across the state will tell you how hard it is to find books that don't contain these concepts snuck in.
So what can you do? Write! Write a letter to the Alabama Public Library Services during this comment period stating your approval of the addition of gender identity to the books to be removed from children's sections. Speak light into the darkness.
As Christians, we hold the light of truth. Only we hold that. As Jesus says, it is wrong to hide such light under a bushel. In fact, it cannot be hidden. It is a shining city on a hill. This is a small way that protects children to shine a light into that darkness that we all can do. Please write and help the APLS protect our youth in Alabama.
Laura Clark is a wife, mother, and community activist. She currently serves as the interim president of Alabama Center for Law and Liberty, a conservative nonprofit law firm that fights for limited government, free markets, and strong families in the courts. Anything written by Laura for this publication does not constitute legal advice.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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