The Legislature wants to erase LGBTQ+ people from libraries. We will not let them | Opinion

House Bill 710, sponsored by freshman Rep. Jaron Crane, has been a noteworthy and divisive bill in Idaho’s 2024 Legislative Session. I am here to join the discourse as a library worker and advocate for literacy, learning, and libraries.

My name is Izzy, and I have been working in libraries since 2019, when I was a senior in high school. Needless to say, I never expected to have to go to battle with misinformed legislators over library materials. I am incredibly disappointed and frustrated with the bill, as are any other library workers from the state that I have spoken to. Anyone who spends a substantial amount of time in libraries realizes this bill is harmful, which should be a signal to Idaho legislators that their supposed efforts at compromise have failed.

At large, this bill’s primary purpose is not to protect kids, but to erase the existence of queer people in libraries. Censorship means to suppress or prohibit books or other media, and that’s what this bill will do. It will suppress access to books, specifically LGBTQ+ books.

The most alarming and obviously discriminatory aspect of HB 710 lies within its definitions. Under the definition of “sexual conduct” in Idaho Code homosexuality is included. The language of this bill implies that there is something inherently wrong, obscene and objectionable about the existence of queer people. It gives bigots the legal firepower to suppress books because they include LGBTQ+ characters. Legislators’ rebuttal to the “definition of sexual conduct” argument is that it is a part of Idaho code, and this bill does not change that definition. Regardless, the definition is a part of the bill, and that is a problem.

Library workers are worried about the fiscal impacts, spatial logistics, chilling effect and the precedent the passage of this bill would create. Once the government is allowed to restrict access to written materials, citizens should be alarmed. It is a message that Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” warns us of — we should not be afraid of books; we should be afraid of the people trying to control them.

On principle, all materials that a public library owns should be available to every patron, including children. Librarians are not arguing that children should have access to pornographic material because our libraries do not contain such material. Certain legislators misinterpret the meaning of the terms included in the bill and fundamentally do not understand the role of libraries or the material selection process, which has been explained to the House and Senate State Affairs committees multiple times during public testimony.

The terms that are pivotal to this bill are impossible to define across the board — everyone conceptualizes the term “harmful to minors” differently. This bill serves to force a definition on the entire state. That is government overreach. A subjective concept should not be narrowed to one governmental definition.

Accepting philosophy like that of HB 710 and its supporters is a slippery slope toward tyranny. Practices like book burning become commonplace when we allow for the institutional changes that precede this. Changes that ostracize particular groups of people begin to restrict access to their stories and allow for information of any kind to be limited based on political ideology. Be scared, and continue talking about the flaws in this bill. We cannot accept censorship as the new status quo.

This bill will codify bigotry and send the message that libraries do not want LGBTQ+ people in their spaces. This could not be further from the truth. Libraries are for everyone, and therefore should showcase stories that represent all identities at all age levels, accessible to all people.

Whether or not this bill passes, we will always hold space for queer people. We will not erase you. You are always welcome in the library.

Izzy Burgess is a student, passionate activist, human rights advocate and Associate Librarian in Meridian, Idaho. She has been working in libraries since 2019, doing everything from driving a bookmobile to baby storytimes. She loves learning, literacy and serving her community.