Vancouver resident Julia Dawn Seaver encourages area residents to let library officials know how they feel about ‘progressive’ agenda
Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the author alone and do not reflect the editorial position of ClarkCountyToday.com.
Remember the staid, shushing librarians of your youth? They’ve been replaced. The American Library Association (ALA) has become progressive, and they’re after your kids.
Consider the workshops at this year’s annual conference like “Are You Going to Tell My Parents?: The Minor’s Right to Privacy in the Library,” that claimed children “have a right to privacy and confidentiality in what they read and view in the library.” According to the ALA, requiring parental permission to access content is a form of censorship. Look up Sex: The All You Need to Know Sexuality Guide to Get You Through Your Teens and Twenties, available at the Vancouver Community Library. Should the library really provide a book on BDSM, blood play, and fisting to children? What about sexualized recommendations from a column written by a teen services librarian in Seattle?
Then there was “A Child’s Room to Choose: Encouraging Gender Identity and Expression in School and Public Libraries,” “Creating Queer-Inclusive Elementary School Library Programming,” and “Telling Stories, Expanding Boundaries: Drag Queen Storytimes in Libraries.” They also provided tips and strategies for overcoming resistance from the public who pay for this folly.
Never mind, that three drag queens who performed for children were discovered to have criminal sex convictions. Never mind, that the drag queens have Instagram accounts and websites with pictures no child should ever see. Or that libraries now offer drag shows where children hand money to the performers, provide drag workshops to teach drag to kids, and even host “Teen Pride” events for teens and tweens where lube, condoms, and penis-shaped bookmarks were passed out before performances by four drag queens.
In Vancouver, two Drag Queen Story Hours (DQSH) have been held, both by women who transitioned to men and now work as drag queens. The first one dressed as a children’s book character and simulated sex in a performance easily found online. The second one is involved in pup play, a fetish involving bondage and domination. These are the role models the library is putting before your children.
The second DQSH took place at Pride in the Park, just steps from the stage where sexually explicit performances took place (search Pride in the Park on Facebook for images and video). Children handed money to the performers and went on stage to get candy. Fort Vancouver Regional Library (FVRL) Executive Director Amelia Shelley, responsible for programming, said the stage was not visible from the library’s booth and that she’s concerned for kids who might have a transgender parent. Transgender people comprise .6 percent of the population and the trans agenda is confusing children, setting some up to become sterilized life-long patients undergoing body-mutilating surgeries. She said parents have the choice to take their children or not. True, but if some parents are intent on confusing and sexualizing their children it is not incumbent upon taxpayers to finance or endorse it.
Ms. Shelley said a listening conference, a community forum to discuss DQSH, is being planned for Oct. 10, at 6 p.m. There is however, already another DQSH on the calendar for Oct. 27.
Attend the next library board meeting Mon., Sept. 16, 6 p.m., at the Battle Ground Community Library.
Call the library (360) 906-5000. Or, contact Executive Director Amelia Shelley at ashelley@fvrl.org or the Board of Trustees at trustees@fvrl.org.
Julia Dawn Seaver
Vancouver
