Are you a Book Banner?
If you believe queer theory should stay out of the children’s section, progressives say you are.
By: Alex Hamilton
(Note from the Editor: The reader can find more information about “queer theory” from the article, “Define Queer,” pubished last November.
All underlined words are links where you can find the sources of information.)
Recently, at the world economic forum, the President of Argentina, Javier Milei, stated,
“The Western World is in danger, and it is in danger because those who are supposed to have to defend the values of the West are coopted by a vision of the world that inexorably leads to socialism and thereby to poverty.”
The American Library Association, a once esteemed and trustworthy institution, has been inexorably sullied by socialist views. These views became apparent to the world when the ALA elected president, Emily Drabinski, immediately defined herself as a, “Marxist Lesbian.” Drabinski embodies the political orientation of the ALA, and her scholarly writing reflects her view of the library as a political space. Much of her work focuses on queer theory in libraries, and it views queer people as an oppressed social class and heteronormative people as oppressors, reflecting the Marxist roots of queer critical theory. In fact, in an article Drabinski wrote in 2013 called, “Queering the Catalog: Queer Theory and the Politics of Correction,” she argues that public librarians should be trained to present the card catalogue as a biased text, created by hegemonic powers. She states, “Queer theory challenges us to interrogate the processes and power relations that produce certain ways of knowing and being as correct and others as wrong, deviant, and less worthy of life” (Drabinsky 2013). Radical librarians, like Drabinski, work from the premise that libraries are not neutral, and they seek to view the libraries as socio-political institutions capable of radically changing the system.
Fast forward to 2023,
Drabinski is still actively discussing her views of the library, but now she often does so in the publication “Truthout.” In her article, “Progressive Library Boards Can Still Block Right-Wing Censorship: Here’s How,” she discusses an event at Lincolnwood Library. In this incident, parents were outraged by a children’s librarian reading The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish Swish Swish by Lil Hot Mess during library story time. Progressives pegged the outraged parents as pro-censorship because of this view. (You can see a New York City Department of Education sponsored video of Lil Hot Mess reading The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish Swish Swish below this paragraph and decide for yourself if this is an appropriate book for children ages 1+.) Drabinski calls parents who do not want their children exposed to radical gender ideology “extremists,” and she calls for progressives to take over library boards to prevent this type of censorship. In the case of the Lincolnwood Library, a group of anti-censorship community members ran for the library board under the banner “Freedom to Read,” and, in April of 2023, they won, furthering the radical ideals of the ALA.
Drabinski has written an endless number of articles demonizing any person who would question children’s library content, further polarizing library discussions by labeling outraged parents “far-right” and “pro-censorship.” However, Drabinski’s thoughts on queering the catalogue are entirely about censorship because promoting community initiatives focused on queer theory also actively suppresses opposing viewpoints, leaving no room for constructive rhetoric. Accusations are hurled at dissenters like stones, burying their voices under labels like “extremist” and “book banner”. Libraries have a finite amount of space, and thus, a curated collection. This means The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish Swish Swish was specifically chosen for inclusion in the children’s collection, and then chosen again for library story time. If the Lincolnwood Library progressives are going to peddle books on radical gender ideology to preschoolers, are they also going to read books that discuss conservative talking points?
Progressive liberals do not make up a large percentage of the population; in fact, the progressive left makes up only 6% of the American population. However, they are highly political, and they seek to magnify their ideals using American information systems. A 2022 Gallup Poll says conservatives and moderates tie as the largest ideological groups in the United States, while liberals remain the smallest group at 25% of the population. If 75% of the population is not liberal, the ALA and its representatives should not portray progressive liberal views as if they represent the views of the majority of the American population. Structuring American libraries to reflect the ideologies of a sliver of the population distorts the mechanisms used to access information, creating biased, unreliable methods to curate library collections.
Libraries reflect the dominant culture because it is the largest part of the culture; it’s simple statistics, not a political scheme. Currently 5% of Americans identify as LGBT. Assumedly, the amount of text in the library that reflects work by these segments of the American population would be smaller than the larger segments of the culture. However, Drabinski and other radical librarians would lead library users to believe these voices have been intentionally suppressed, and because of this they should be disproportionately magnified by “queering the catalogue.” The elected president of the ALA has every intention of eliminating library neutrality, and instead of questioning this, her fellow librarians applaud her for it.
What does all of this critical theory have to do with your home library?
The Marxist politicization of libraries has been occurring for years, and the sexually suggestive books embedded in the children’s section are the rotten fruit of these Marxist critical theories. Queering the catalogue involves taking books that would once have been classified under “sexual deviance” and categorizing them in places that will push back against heteronormative culture because, as Drabinski says, “The ideology that consigns gay and lesbian sexuality to the subject classification for sexual deviance, or classifies sexuality of all kinds as Social problems, has ramifications beyond the library catalog for people who claim those identities” (Drabinski, 2013). So, the catalog now allows books depicting sexual deviance to pop up in places they would not once have been.
Added to this is the common mechanism of Marxist propaganda, Accusation in a Mirror, where one accuses the enemy of that which they are doing. So, as the ALA censors books, they accuse parents of censoring books. As they politicize libraries, they accuse parents of politicizing libraries. As they hurl accusations of extremism, they push ideals so extreme that the New York Department of Education is replacing The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round with Lil Hot Mess reading The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish Swish Swish “to promote literacy.” The political scheme was never initiated by the “white hegemony”; the political scheme lies in controlling access to information. The ALA knows that libraries hold the keys to the information Americans need to think and learn, and they know controlling access to information will allow them to control the direction of American society. So, they are doing everything in their power to control the information users have access to.
This guest author is a well-respected member of our community writing under the pen name, Alex Hamilton. This is our first guest author for the substack, and we hope many more will come aboard to write for our community here in Montgomery County, TX. Two Moms and Some Books started with two moms, but we are now many parents and friends in Montgomery County working for safe libraries and the protection of children. As with The Federalist Papers, we welcome writers who would like to keep their identities private, who may choose to reveal themselves at a later date.