Illinois House passes bill prohibiting libraries from banning books due to partisan pressure

[mucifer]

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- The Illinois House passed a bill Wednesday that would prohibit libraries from banning books or other material because of partisan or doctrinal pressure, prompting strong opposition from Republicans who called it an assault on local control.

House Bill 2789 is an initiative of Democratic Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, whose office oversees the Illinois State Library and administers several grant programs for public and school libraries as well as adult literacy programs throughout the state.

The bill would require that as a condition of qualifying for those grants in the future, libraries or library systems would have to adopt a written policy prohibiting the practice of banning books. Alternatively, they could adopt the American Library Association's Library Bill of Rights, which includes a statement that &quot m)aterials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval."

The bill came in response to a wave of high-profile controversies throughout the country, including at least one in Illinois. School districts and public libraries have come under pressure to remove certain material from their collections, often material dealing with issues involving race, sexuality and gender identity.

https://abc7chicago.com/book-bans-illinois-library-house-of-representatives-politics/12993420/

So Proud to be from Chicago Illinois!

[hlthe2b]

1. Thank heavens.. some sanity. I now want other states to follow suit, including my own, Colorado

[justhanginon]

2. Yes! So glad I moved across the river to Illinois. Governor Pritzker is doing

a great job and we have two really good Senators. Unfortunately my rep is Mary Miller who is a total bad dream. Can't have everything I guess.

[davsand]

12. Her district emails are a horror.

I ended up on her email list somehow--probably from one of the many times I've emailed her office about issues she's wrong on. I can always count on her to raise my blood pressure. I get sucked onto reading those *&^% emails of hers and get annoyed within the first paragraph. Her predecessor (Rodney Davis) was an absolute tool, but she's 10 times worse.

I intensely dislike that woman.


Laura

[Midnight Writer]

14. Howdy, Neighbor! Thank God the liberals in Chicago outnumber the crazies around here.

[AwakeAtLast]

15. She's mine, too!

And before her it was Darren Bailey.

[reACTIONary]

3. Chicago - Big Shoulders....

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/12840/chicago

[orangecrush]

6. Great poem

Thanks!

[Tanuki]

8. Thanks! I hadn't thought of that excellent poem in a long time!

[Paladin]

4. Score one for civilization. Overjoyed to learn this. (nt)

[gradmaster]

5. So Proud

So proud to be living in the Land of Lincoln and in a state that is not governed by officials who are trying to overturn every freedom except the "right" to own a gun!

[mopinko]

7. ya know, i hope that jb

has an impact on ppl’s idea of what a ‘big man’ is.
i voted for him cuz he cares about kids, and put his money there. if we organized our world around taking care of every child, we’d be in heaven in a generation. to me, the guy is a teddy bear.
i suspect if he wasnt so rich, a whole lot of ppl would not see him as a leader.

but he’s a smart guy, too. and knows how to lead. looking for a hard guy to run things has taken us down most of the bad roads is how we got into most of the messes we have been in as a species. if jb can make even the tiniest dent in that kind of thinking….

[bucolic_frolic]

9. Soon to be states with books, and states without.

[Timeflyer]

10. Rethugs cherry-pick issues they call assaults on local control, as they cherry-pick Bible verses

to follow, to suit their political agendas.

[ananda]

11. Wish it was Texas.

...

[AllyCat]

13. Shouldn't be necessary but glad our sensible

neighbors to the south are on this.

[roamer65]

16. We should do it in Michigan as well.

Now that we have fulll control of state government.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

17. excellent