We are a group of Botetourt County residents who have come together to promote healthy, wholesome, and age-appropriate children's books and media and to ensure that only these are offered to children in our public libraries.
We oppose the efforts of the Botetourt County Library Director and the American Library Association to make available to children books and materials that distort human sexuality. We oppose any efforts to sexualize children and to confuse them about gender.
We are NOT proposing book banning. In fact, our libraries remove hundreds of books each month from shelves to make way for new books. Those removed books are not "banned." But they were removed because of someone making a judgment about the value of the books.
What we ARE proposing is the establishment of sensible and reasonable community standards. We the residents of Botetourt County deserve input into what is added and what is removed to better serve our community and our community standards.
And this is not about free speech. The Supreme Court has ruled that the First Amendment does not protect obscenity (1973 Miller case). And the Court ruled in 2003 (US vs. ALA) that “libraries have wide discretion to exclude pornography and other sexually explicit material” and that “a library’s interest in protecting its minor patrons from harmful sexual materials is not only legitimate, but compelling.”
Stand with us and demand that the Botetourt County Board of Supervisors orders the removal from libraries of sexually explicit material aimed at children and teens. Keep in mind, it is our tax dollars that provide these books and DVDs.
That's not a natural, organic development - this is being created!
Contact your County Supervisor and demand that these books are removed
Call 540 928-2006 or email:
Amsterdam District
Steve Clinton (Library Liaison)
Blue Ridge District
Billy Martin
Buchanan District
Amy White
Fincastle District
Richard Bailey
Valley District:
“Mac” Scothorn
Attend the next Board of Supervisors Meeting and give your opinion during the Citizens Comments session:
Board of Supervisors | Botetourt County, VA (botetourtva.gov)
Contact your State Legislators and tell them you want the obscenity law exemptions for schools and public libraries repealed in Virginia
Delegate Terry Austin
540 254-1500
Senator Steve Newman
434 385-1065
district23@senate.virginia.gov
Educate yourself
To learn about the books and to see for yourself what's objectionable, click below on The Books (for Adults Only)
To see the latest news and resources on this issue, click below on Resources
To better understand the current library policies and processes, and the role of the ALA, click below on Libraryspeak
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