MONTICELLO — In Florida’s book world, most controversy over the last year has surrounded school shelves, with numerous titles removed following prodding from conservative activists and groups like Moms for Liberty.
But recent events, including one pitting former “Growing Pains” television star Kirk Cameron and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio against the American Library Association, have shown public libraries aren’t immune from the heat.
In fact, in the Sunshine State, controversy might have only just dawned.
On Saturday, publisher Brave Books sponsored book readings in more than 300 libraries with Cameron, who said in an Instagram post that it was meant to “bring faith and good moral values back into our public institutions.”
“Are you ready to help me stop the indoctrination of our children?” the teen actor turned Christian activist said in a video advertisement for the “See You at the Library” events.
On its website, Brave Books says it creates “an alternative to the current progressive agenda dominating children’s literature.”
In some places across the nation, Saturday’s readings saw counter protests. When an Alabama event planned by a Moms for Liberty chapter was canceled by the library, which cited logistical and safety concerns amid growing attendance estimates, blowback ensued. When it was rescheduled, demonstrators waved signs outside like “ban hate, not books” and “trans people belong,”
But in rural Jefferson County, on the Panhandle connecting Georgia to the Gulf Coast, an event — one of more than a dozen in Florida — was comparatively quiet.
“We just want to do this type of thing to honor the country that we live in and the freedoms that God really has given us,” said Bill Snyder, who coordinated it. He’s a member of the Moms for Liberty chapter in neighboring Leon County and other conservative groups.
Drawing around 20 people, three of them children, it started with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.
Angela Gray, Jefferson County’s property appraiser, sang “God Bless America,” and Supervisor of Elections Michelle Milligan belted out “America the Beautiful.”
Then, two books were read, one a Brave Book written by Cameron, followed by a video about the history of “The Star-Spangled Banner” and another of a little girl singing it.
“This is one way for people to show their support for no censorship and for good quality values and for understanding our country’s history and what we should be grateful for,” said Gretchen Wallace, community outreach committee chair of the local Keystone Federated Republican Women, after the closing prayer.
But the low-key affair doesn’t mean the Jefferson County R.J. Bailar Public Library is unscathed from today’s culture wars – or free from future controversy.
Wallace paused the interview halfway through to lead a USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida reporter across the library, to the children’s section.
“There are books back here that tell children, for example, that there are many genders,” she said. “As you can imagine, that could be very confusing for a kid… I think that if they have them at all they ought to be out of reach of juveniles.”
Wallace says she has found such titles on the shelves herself.
“I’ve gone through and just looked, and you can identify the books fairly readily because they’ve got rainbow colors on the binder,” Wallace said. “Not always, but a lot of the time.”
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While Saturday marked the first national “See You at the Library,” similar, smaller-scale events had already generated fuss.
A Tennessee library board even fired one of its directors after accusations she engaged in “unkind pushback” to a reading.
Posed as an alternative to drag queen story hours, the event included not just Cameron but also former University of Kentucky women’s swimmer Riley Gaines. She’s known for her activism against transgender athletes in women’s sports.
These readings, called Brave Story Hours, have made recurring headlines in recent months, as Cameron has accused various “woke” libraries of not permitting them because they disagreed with his message.
In a June webinar with librarians by the American Library Association, Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of its Office for Intellectual Freedom, said groups associated with Cameron were misrepresenting the facts. She said they weren’t going through the proper process to get meeting rooms or requested rooms that weren’t available.
She also said libraries aren’t “obligated” to provide space and it’s important for libraries to have “reasonable rules” in the face of “groups that seek to censor LGBTQIA materials or disparage or silence LGBTQIA library users, exploit the open nature of the public library to advance their agenda.” She pointed to the then-upcoming “See You at the Library” event as an example.
While she noted the law protects those groups’ ability to use meeting rooms, Cameron took issue with the comments, citing them as he appeared on conservative media stations to say the ALA was “conspiring to deny access to people of faith all across the country.”
The coverage caught the attention of Rubio and other Republican senators, who sent a letter to the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services calling for “swift action” against the ALA’s “blatant discrimination against religious publishers.”
“As a recipient of federal funds, the ALA is prohibited from using taxpayer dollars to violate the First Amendment,” the senators wrote.
The First Liberty Institute, a conservative religious liberty-focused legal organization that represents Brave Books, also sent a letter urging an investigation.
“What we interpreted it as is she basically was advising libraries on ways to get around the Constitution,” Ryan Gardner, counsel for the First Liberty Institute, told the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida.
In an email, the ALA defended its guidance, saying they’ve made it “very clear” through presentations and its Library Bill of Rights that policies shouldn’t be “prejudicial or discriminatory.”
“They must be inclusive and follow a reasonable content and viewpoint policy that benefits all members,” reads its statement. “Any statement or suggestion that ALA has advised otherwise is incorrect and intentionally misleading.”
When contacted, a spokesman for Brave Books and Cameron told the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida to email questions. Those questions were not answered.
Could public libraries be an ‘expansion of the target’
School districts across Florida have purged titles from their library shelves since Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the Curriculum Transparency Act last year, which he proclaimed as a way to increase parental involvement in education and prevent “indoctrination.” The law requires districts to catalog every book they offer and put a formal review process in place for complaints.
And then came House Bill 1069, which took effect July 1, creating wildly-varying interpretations on what books should be removed from schools.
But, in other parts of the country, public libraries are in the epicenter of the culture wars.
Several months ago, Louisiana’s attorney general released a report — titled the “Protecting Innocence Report” — with a list of books his office considers to be “sexually explicit” or inappropriate for children.
The state later passed a law to limit minors’ access to public library books deemed “sexually explicit.” Activists worry it will especially target LGBTQ content.
“The shift from the school library to the public library is very much underway,” said Jonathan Friedman, director of free expression and education programs at PEN America. “It’s not so much a shift. It’s like an expansion of the target.”
Stephana Ferrell, co-founder and director of research and insight for the Florida Freedom to Read Project, said what started as movement touted as a way to ensure kids received appropriate material in schools had gone “out of control,” seeping into public libraries.
She pointed to a Pinellas County public library, where a children’s section Pride display got removed after pressure from a county commissioner.
Other counties are considering ways to limit children’s access to certain public library books. Hillsborough county commissioners recently passed a measure looking to do exactly that.
“It’s not necessarily about empowering parents to make individual decisions for their children,” Ferrell said. “It is about making sure that certain things are just not offered or available to anyone under the age of 18.
“So no longer is it the parents’ right to choose… It’s the government acting as the nanny state.”
Though, unlike Louisiana, Florida’s current lawmakers haven’t moved to specifically target public library materials.
“But they opened up Pandora’s box when they started attacking our schools,” Ferrell said.
Controversy shows libraries are still important, director says
Natalie Binder, director of the Jefferson County library, said for those concerned about books, “there’s things that they can do.”
“They can come and talk to me about it,” she said. “They can talk to their county commissioner. They can ask for a challenge packet.”
Wallace, though, says the book challenge process isn’t enough. She wants a new policy that will prevent some books from being brought in at all. There are titles, she says, containing “graphic sexual material” that are in violation of state law.
“Parents want to be able to let their kids roam the stacks,” said Wallace, who specified her remarks represented her personal beliefs and not her GOP group’s.
Binder, meanwhile, emphasized libraries are for the whole community — and the titles on the shelves show that.
“We have, I guess you’d call them conservative or patriotic books. We just have a wide range of materials,” Binder said. “If there’s something here that is not for you, then I’m sure there is something else that is.”
But, since a library does represent the community, Binder says, it reflects different opinions and perspectives, meaning that not everyone’s going to agree.
“But it shows that, even in 2023, how invested people are in libraries and how important they are to the community,” she said. “This shows how engaged a community is with their library and how important it is to them.”
This reporting content is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA Today Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Douglas Soule is based in Tallahassee, Fla. He can be reached at DSoule@gannett.com. Twitter: @DouglasSoule.