BISMARCK – A requirement for public libraries to relocate their sexually explicit books from the children’s section to the adult section passed the North Dakota State Senate Wednesday.
House Bill 1205 seeks to prohibit public libraries from keeping sexually explicit material in its children’s collection and requires those books be removed or relocated to the adult section by January 1, 2024.
“There’s been a lot of work on this particular legislation. This has become an issue through our taxpayer public libraries as well as K through 12 libraries, wherein 40 different instances were found material that fit under this description that we now have in this bill,” said Sen. Janne Myrdal, R-Dis. 19, Edinburg. “Citizens and parents have come forward and are very upset about this.”
“I feel that this is a step in the wrong direction for censorship,” said Sen. Ryan Braunberger, D-Dis. 10, Fargo. “I don’t think anybody in this body would agree that pornography should be shown to children. However, these bills have an underlying attempt to target individuals of the LGBTQ community. I do fully believe there will be other bills coming down the road that will be attacking that community.”
The bill passed by a vote of 39 to 7 and if both chambers agree on the amendments the bill will be sent to the governor for consideration.
