Shutting the Library Will Solve Nothing

On a recent morning, in the interest of journalistic research, I typed the words “gender curious books for kids” into the Google search box on my phone.

The first listing that came up was for a site called littlefeminist.com, which included the following article: “The 17 Best Children’s Books About Gender Identity and Expression.” The second listing was for readbrightly.com: “7 Books That Teach Kids About the Fluidity of Gender and the Importance of Acceptance.” The third listing was for parents.com, with this title: “36 Gender Inclusive Books for Kids and Teens.”

Since it had the fewest books on its list, I went to the Read Brightly site. At the top of the article, it said that these books were appropriate for children as young as three. The titles included:

“It’s Okay to be Different,” by Todd Parr

“My Princess Boy,” by Cheryl Kilodavis

“A Fire Engine for Ruthie,” by Leslea Newman

“Jacob’s New Dress,” by Sarah and Ian Hoffman

“Roland Humphrey is Wearing a WHAT?,” by Eileen Kiernan-Johnson

“I Am Jazz,” by Jessica Herthal and Jazz Jennings

“Backwards Day,” by S. Bear Bergman

(The last two, respectively, are about Jazz, who is transgender, and Andrea, who wants to be a boy for a day.)

Under each of the book listings were links to where that book could be purchased on the shopping websites of Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Target and Walmart.

I was able to obtain all the above information in less than five minutes; and I’m in my 60s, with very clumsy thumbs. Imagine how quickly a savvy 13-year-old with internet access could find all of this, and much more.

A group of people in Columbia County, who I believe are well-meaning in their own way, are pursuing an effort to de-fund the Dayton Public Library. They are doing this because the library includes books similar to the ones listed above, and they don’t want our local children to have access to them. They apparently think that looking at these books will cause kids to question their own gender identity and sexuality, when otherwise they wouldn’t. If successful, the Dayton Library de-funding effort will result in shutting down the nearly century-old institution.

The idea that eliminating our library is a good way to stop local children from learning about gender and sexuality issues is charmingly naïve, and terribly destructive at the same time. It’s sort of like thinking that a good way to stop kids from eating Skittles and Ho Hos is to burn down the local grocery store.

When I finished learning about gender-related children’s books, I typed the word “porn” into my Google search box – because our hypothetical 13-year-old could certainly do that too. I’m sure you don’t need me to describe what popped up on my screen when I did that.

I put in a few other search terms, such as “profanity,” “fentanyl”, “white supremacy,” “eighties fashion.” The results from all these searches had the potential to influence young minds in ways we might not like. But there’s no institution you could shut down that would stop this information from being available.

Our small Dayton library provides many useful services for kids, adults, and seniors. And it contains enough knowledge to keep a person learning new things every day for a lifetime. Killing it would be a hardship for many people in our community and would make no difference to a curious young person with a phone and a browser.

Parents who don’t want their kids exposed to books about gender issues and other subjects they are concerned about have every right to limit their kids’ access to the library – and to the internet. For those parents who want to encourage their children’s curiosity about gender and related issues, that’s their right as well.

Kids are smart, inquisitive, and resourceful. And believe it or not, most of them will welcome a reasonable discussion with their parents about issues they are curious about. If you really want to help kids in Columbia County, then engage with their parents, respectfully, as they navigate these issues. But please don’t shut down our library over some misguided notion that censorship will keep these topics away from kids. It won’t.