Lawmakers in Alabama passed legislation that could lead to the prosecution of librarians under the state’s obscenity law for providing minors with “harmful” materials.
The bill, approved 72-28 by the Alabama House of Representatives, will now move to the state Senate. It removes existing exemptions for public libraries in the state’s obscenity law and is part of a larger nationwide effort to ban books.
The bill will also expand the definition of sexual conduct prohibited at public K-12 schools or public libraries to include any “sexual or gender oriented conduct” that may expose minors to people who are dressed in “sexually revealing, exaggerated, or provocative clothing or costumers, or are stripping, or engaged in lewd or lascivious dancing, presentations, or activities.”
If signed into law, any librarian who violates the law could face a misdemeanor.