How far will these racist bigots take their crusade to take the US society back to the 1950s? Books banned not for sexual content but for the fact that the last name of the author being gay and another for the fact that an unarmed black teenager is shot. Only white cis straight morally Christian sanitized stuff is fit for people to read. Banning adult magazines for adult people is coming next. Below is a quote from the article. Hugs
“This proves, as always, that censorship is never about limiting access to this book or that one. It is about sending the message to children that certain ideas—or even certain people—are not worthy of discussion or acknowledgement or consideration,” Brassard said. “This is a hateful message in a place like a public library, where all children are meant to feel safe, and where their curiosity about the world is meant to be nurtured.”
“Read Me A Story, Stella” was added to a book list of potentially sexually explicit books at the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library because the author’s last name is Gay.
“Read Me a Story, Stella” is a children’s picture book about a pair of siblings reading books together and building a doghouse. However, because the author’s name is Marie-Louise Gay, the book was added to a list of potentially “sexually explicit” books to be moved from the children’s section of the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library (HCPL) system.
Gay’s book has never been “mistakenly censored,” according to Kirsten Brassard, Gay’s publicist at Groundwood Books.
“Although it is obviously laughable that our picture book shows up on their list of censored books simply because the author’s last name is Gay, the ridiculousness of that fact should not detract from the seriousness of the situation,” Brassard said in a statement.
Brassard mentioned other books on the list, including Angie Thomas’ “The Hate U Give,” which has no LGBTQ themes or sexual content but does depict the shooting of an unarmed Black teenager at the hands of police.
“This proves, as always, that censorship is never about limiting access to this book or that one. It is about sending the message to children that certain ideas—or even certain people—are not worthy of discussion or acknowledgement or consideration,” Brassard said. “This is a hateful message in a place like a public library, where all children are meant to feel safe, and where their curiosity about the world is meant to be nurtured.”
HCPL executive director Cindy Hewitt admitted “Read Me a Story, Stella” should not have been put on the list and was added because of the keyword “gay.”
“Obviously, we’re not going to touch that book for any reason,” Hewitt said. She’s also read “The Hate U Give” and said it’s an excellent book that no librarian should remove from the young adult section. Hewitt insists there was never any intention to target the LGBTQ community. Instead, she was hoping to be “proactive instead of reactive.”
“Read Me a Story, Stella” was one of 233 titles slated to be reviewed and potentially moved. However, after internal and public criticism that the list targeted the LGBTQ community, the process was halted. Librarians moved some of the books to the adult section, and some have not been re-catalogued.
“We wanted to be proactive and allow our library staff to look at our collection and make decisions about moving material to an older age group and not have someone from outside dictating that for us,” Hewitt said. She added that HCPL considers public opinion, but “our librarians are trained in collection development, and it should be their responsibility to examine the collection and make those changes.”
Hewitt said the review was based on a list of 102 books compiled by Clean Up Alabama. Clean Up Alabama has been targeting “sexually explicit” books in libraries around the state this year. “Read Me A Story, Stella” is not on this list. She said the library was gearing up for “unprecedented” book challenges by using this list as a starting point.
AL.com received a copy of the book review list for the Madison branch and found that 91% of 233 titles had the words lesbian, gay, transgender, gender identity, or gender non-conforming in the subject header, which lists numerous themes for each book. Hewitt said the keywords she asked the 10 branch managers at HCPL to use were “sexuality, gender, sex, and dating.”
Hewitt insisted this was a miscommunication problem and there was confusion about the process. “We understand and appreciate our community, and the needs of our collection to reflect our community,” Hewitt said. “We were never eliminating any book. We were just looking at it as a whole.”
Alyx Kim-Yohn is a circulation manager at the Madison branch of the library and said it’s “cosmically ironic” that the situation escalated during Banned Books Week. Kim-Yohn was frustrated because the directive wasn’t simply a review of the books. They said this was a mandate to review and move the books based on a list from the Alabama Public Library Service, which Hewitt confirmed doesn’t exist yet.
“The decision had been made,” Kim-Yohn said. “There was no debate. There’s no conversation. This is what was happening.”
Kim-Yohn refused to participate because they said it violated their professional ethics. They said even if they weren’t queer, they wouldn’t participate.
“Why are we just unilaterally moving all of this before anyone’s even complained about these books yet?” Kim-Yohn wondered.
Hewitt said she didn’t know how many books librarians moved and returned because she took a “hands-off approach” to the process. Community members with the group Read Freely Alabama, which is against the book challenges, visited several branches and compiled a list of 40 books moved into the adult section from various branches in Madison County.
AL.com obtained this list and determined that at the time of publication, several books are designated as “adult” in the online catalog at the North Huntsville branch but “young adult” in other branches, including “A Quick and Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns,” “What’s The T: The Guide to All Things Trans and/or Nonbinary,” and “We Deserve Monuments” a mystery novel about an LGBTQ biracial teen.
Kim-Yohn hopes Hewitt apologizes and hopes this never happens again. They also want to encourage the public to visit libraries and utilize staff despite this incident.
“If you’re mad, what we need you to do is to come check these books out, come to story times, put in purchase requests for books that you want to see,” Kim-Yohn said. “We need you to keep supporting the library.”
The books in question were checked out or renewed more than 8,000 times. The full list of books slated for review and potential relocation is below.
I am an older gay guy in a long-term wonderful relationship. My spouse and I are in our 36th year together. I love politics and news. I enjoy civil discussions and have no taboo subjects. My pronouns are he / him / his and my email is Scottiestoybox@gmail.com
View all posts by Scotties Playtime
4 thoughts on “Children’s picture book flagged at Alabama library because author’s last name is ‘Gay’”
Not only the Enola Gay, but “Fat Man and Little Boy” sounds like big trouble in River City …
… except I guess we have to be careful about show tunes these days, too …
Hello Ali. The right Christian nationalists are desperate to return society to the 1950s or earlier. They want the film and TV censors back, they want strict restraints on anyone different from the straight cis people, who will be the only people in public. White people were in charge, and the only black people on TV were the maids and low end yard workers. They want to pretend Leave It to Beaver was reality and to return to the fiction of a time when kids called adults including their teachers sir and ma’am. It is horrible what they have achieved so far, and now people see that there is no appeasing them with giving them a little. They will settle for nothing than everything the way they want it. Hugs. Scottie
What the HELL, the, Republicans had, gone, too far, on their, anti-LGBT means…this IS, too, far-out, and, the locals are, okay with it??? That would be, even, WORSE!
Hi TAURUSINGEMINI. They have gone far too far, as you say. People are beginning to see they can not be appeased, because they won’t stop until they get a complete control and return to a 1950s society. They are demanding a return to a fictional time that never really existed and was only a facade for what was really going on. But the fact is these people can not be reasoned with, they are on a mission to control how everyone else lives. They must be stopped, they must be defeated. Or the US will have a Taliban style moral police run by Christian churches with areas under the control not by the people, but by the church leaders and their dictates. Hugs. Scottie
A Flourish table
Scottie's Playtime 
Not only the Enola Gay, but “Fat Man and Little Boy” sounds like big trouble in River City …
… except I guess we have to be careful about show tunes these days, too …
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hello Ali. The right Christian nationalists are desperate to return society to the 1950s or earlier. They want the film and TV censors back, they want strict restraints on anyone different from the straight cis people, who will be the only people in public. White people were in charge, and the only black people on TV were the maids and low end yard workers. They want to pretend Leave It to Beaver was reality and to return to the fiction of a time when kids called adults including their teachers sir and ma’am. It is horrible what they have achieved so far, and now people see that there is no appeasing them with giving them a little. They will settle for nothing than everything the way they want it. Hugs. Scottie
LikeLiked by 1 person
What the HELL, the, Republicans had, gone, too far, on their, anti-LGBT means…this IS, too, far-out, and, the locals are, okay with it??? That would be, even, WORSE!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi TAURUSINGEMINI. They have gone far too far, as you say. People are beginning to see they can not be appeased, because they won’t stop until they get a complete control and return to a 1950s society. They are demanding a return to a fictional time that never really existed and was only a facade for what was really going on. But the fact is these people can not be reasoned with, they are on a mission to control how everyone else lives. They must be stopped, they must be defeated. Or the US will have a Taliban style moral police run by Christian churches with areas under the control not by the people, but by the church leaders and their dictates. Hugs. Scottie
LikeLike