National Library Organization Works To Kill Anti-Porn Legislation

• The American Library Association (ALA) is tracking anti-pornography legislation that it deems harmful in an effort to kill the bills, according to the organization’s website. 
• The ALA argues that bills that prohibit librarians from providing minors with sexually explicit material and require electronic devices to automatically block pornography are “adverse” to a librarian’s success and ability to do their jobs, the group’s website states.
• “Major proponents of these bills include conservative family values groups, conservative Christian legal organizations, and advocacy groups opposed to comprehensive sex education and LGBTQ+ equality,” the ALA writes on their website.

The American Library Association (ALA), the nation’s largest library organization, is encouraging grassroots members to kill legislation that would prohibit librarians from distributing sexually explicit material to minors and require manufacturers of electronic devices to automatically block pornography, according to the group’s website.

The ALA has identified five types of legislation that the organization believes would “impair” the ability of librarians, including parental rights bills, “legislation to eliminate obscenity,” Critical Race Theory (CRT) or LGBTQ content bans, human trafficking prevention acts and mandatory database and electronic resource regulation filtering bills, according to the group’s website. Such bills push conservative values, and some will remove protections that bar librarians from criminal prosecution if they provide sexually explicit or pornographic material to minors, the ALA argues.

“A number of bills have also proposed provisions that would allow parents to file civil lawsuits for money damages based on a claim that a librarian or educator has distributed materials to a minor that the minor’s parent believes to be obscene or harmful to minors,” the ALA writes under the “Adverse Legislation In the States” section on the website. “Major proponents of these bills include conservative family values groups, conservative Christian legal organizations, and advocacy groups opposed to comprehensive sex education and LGBTQ+ equality.”

The ALA lists bills both dead and still up for consideration that the organization is targeting using its “adverse library legislation tracker.” The tracker includes a piece of Arkansas legislation that was signed into law in April and charges anyone, including librarians, with a Class A misdemeanor offense if they provide a minor with obscene material.

The ALA lists “Mandatory Online Device Filtering,” or the “Human Trafficking Prevention Act,” which is legislation that requires electronic devices to automatically block sexually explicit content or pornography until the purchaser pays a per-device fee to change the settings, as a bill it is looking to kill, according to the organization website. The legislation does not have exceptions for libraries or schools and, up until 2022, the bills introduced in several states have failed to move past the committee, the ALA notes.

Oklahoma is currently considering the “Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Prevention Act,” which would require retailers who manufacture internet-enabled devices to install a filter that would block child pornography and revenge pornography. The bill is listed on the “adverse library legislation tracker,” the organization’s website shows.

The ALA provides information for its members on how to “address adverse legislation,” including such anti-pornography bills, suggesting that grassroots groups report any legislation it deems harmful to the national library organization before taking action, the organization’s website shows. The ALA encourages its members to strategize what groups will lead the “legislative advocacy or work” against the opposed legislation, and to determine if the bill can be “defeated outright.”

The ALA tells members to plan what work will be done “quietly or behind the scenes” and map out when it is time to “mobilize grassroots action” against the legislation, the website states.

The ALA suggests that its members research proposed legislation in their states and strategize how to combat any “adverse legislation,” the website shows. ALA members are encouraged to collaborate with “grasstops advocates who can engage with lawmakers and influencers,” as well as know how much the library organization will be involved to help “defeat an adverse bill.”

Members are told to have a “crisis communications plan” in place to develop talking points opposing the targeted legislation, the ALA website states. The ALA encourages members to “mobilize constituents and influencers to persuade” other individuals to be against the legislation which the organization has deemed harmful.

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