A Texas county has told an appeals court it has a right to cull books on sex, gender and racism
Source: ABC News
A Texas county that wants to keep 17 books off its shelves — some dealing humorously with flatulence and others with issues including sex, gender identity and racism — argued its case Tuesday before 18 federal appeals court judges amid questions on whether the rights of the patrons or county officials were at risk.
Library patrons filed suit in 2022 against numerous officials with the Llano County library system and the county government after the books were removed. A federal district judge in Texas issued a preliminary injunction requiring that the books be returned in 2023. But the outlook became murkier when three judges of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals split three ways on the issue in June — one saying all 17 books should stay on the shelves, another saying only eight had to stay, and another saying the court should leave it up to the county.
The upshot was that eight books were to be kept on the shelves. But the full court voted to toss that ruling and rehear the case. Tuesday's arguments were heard by the 17 full-time judges of the 5th Circuit, plus Jacques Wiener, a senior 5th Circuit judge with a reduced workload who was part of the original panel.
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Judges closely questioned attorneys on both sides as attorneys supporting the county said government officials' decisions in curating a library's book selection amount to protected government speech.
Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/texas-county-told-appeals-court-cull-books-sex-113977416
Since when is censorship "protected government speech"?
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I worked in our local public library in the reference department. Way too many people came in looking intimidated, scared, apprehensive. In general, their fear seemed linked to their level of education (or interest in education) I can't help thinking that the vast majority of books make it past administrators simply because their lack of interest supercedes actual knowledge. If a book gets flagged by a zealot, who makes complaints to the administrator, the book will get attention and maybe banned because the zealot made a fuss.
I used to live in a small town and got books from the library. I read a novel with an expilicit scene about a woman who was raped by her husband and his male lover. I read another book with explicit scenes of torture in a novel about the slave trade. Believe me, if I had known what was in those books, I would have made other choices. They were otherwise forgettable. Some of my favorite historical novels have explicit scenes, but they are critically acclaimed and well written. I remember the authors and the storylines.
My husband shared with me that he and his friends used to go in that same small library and look at pictures in National Geographic of nude women from cultures that didn't have a dress code. The same library wouldn't subscribe to Playboy. I bet if a zealot found out that the boys were seeing naked women, and horrors! women of color, National Geographic would have been offlimits asap.
Curious minds will find a way. When I was young, I read books I found laying around the house. My parents had a grocery store. For a few years, they stocked paperbacks that were just awful. I got to read several and WOW! They were an education. At least it was good clean fun, compared to later reads that weren't 
