Parents in southern Manitoba are advocating for the funding to public libraries in seven municipalities to be cut if they will not remove books written for children and youth that contain explicit sexual content from the shelves in South Central regional libraries.
He said that books being labelled by libraries and media as “sex education” books are catalogued by their publishers as “sex instruction.”
Wall said, “The difference: sex education focuses on basic anatomy and the biology of sex. These books, however, are instructing our children on how to commit various sexual acts.”
Wall asked the city council to look at “cartoon style drawings” from two books, “It’s Perfectly Normal” and “Sex Is A Funny Word.”
Pornography, Parents Say
“Pornography is not defined only as photographs, but also as drawings or visual representations,” Wall said. He added that the criminal code of Canada defines child pornography as a visual representation showing a child under age 18 depicted as engaging in sexually explicit activity, or where the dominant characteristic is the depiction of a sexual organ or anal region of a person under 18.“Do none of the images in front of you fit the description of child pornography?” he asked the council. “They do,” he said.
“All Boys Aren’t Blue,” a non-fiction book written by an LGBT activist, was another book brought up for discussion in the council meeting. Wall said the book contains “highly graphic and sexualized content” written for teens, in the voice of a 10-year-old boy narrating the story.
In one scene, the book describes the author being molested by a male relative a few years older than himself. The book has been banned from schools and libraries in multiple U.S. states due to pressure from parents concerned the book was explicit and obscene.
According to Wall, nearly a thousand people have signed a petition to keep sexually explicit books for children out of public libraries, which he said are funded by over 1 million tax dollars. The group has asked city councils to withhold funding until the books are removed.
Other speakers also presented to the council. One mother, Christine, said her son picked up the book “It’s Perfectly Normal.”
She said she saw the pictures in the book. “They won’t even print those pictures, the newspapers can’t print the pictures. Why not? They’re safe for kids, are they not?”
She said parents right now aren’t able to trust libraries.
Another mother with four children agreed. She told the council she cannot send her children to the library by themselves anymore.
She said her two girls need less discussion about mature sexual topics. “You’re taking away their childhood from them. It’s not healthy.”
Cathy Ching, director of library services for South Regional Library, told CTV news the books “teach about sexuality and body image” and are “needed by our parents and children.”
Winkler Mayor Henry Siemens thanked parents for making the presentation and said the council would provide a formal response next year after further research.
