You’ve seen the headlines about drag queen story hours hosted in local libraries with adult sexual performers reading books to children and indoctrinating them into harmful sexual and gender ideologies. Sadly, these events have been taking place all over the Commonwealth. And when concerned citizens call their local libraries to oppose these inappropriate events for children, they are told the drag queens are simply promoting diversity and inclusion. MFI speaks to parents and pastors across the state who often feel powerless to stop this insanity.
But we are happy to report that the tide is turning. Instead of feeling powerless, members of the community are boldly stepping up to host their own story hours, reading positive and life-giving books to children in their local libraries.
Let’s keep this exciting and proactive trend going in MA by participating in the national See You at the Library event coming up in August!
Across the country, Kirk Cameron, with BRAVE Books, has been visiting libraries and holding story hours to teach kids about faith, hope, and love. On August 5, 2023, they are calling on all families who love God and love America to gather at local public libraries to pray, sing, and read BRAVE Books and other books of virtue. Imagine these events happening at hundreds of local public libraries in MA. What a statement it would make – that MA citizens care about the innocence of children and want to inspire them with stories of truth, beauty, and goodness.
Visit the BRAVE Books website for instructions on how to host an event at your local library!
Be aware that recently a director of the American Library Association (ALA) was exposed for instructing librarians on how to obstruct See You at the Library events.
Considering the ALA’s underhanded advice on how to silence pro-family story hours, it is important to know what your Constitutional rights are when it comes to booking a room at your local public library. Meeting rooms at public libraries are generally considered public forums, as long as they are open to members of the public to book for events. That means that the library can’t discriminate against your event because of the content it involves or the viewpoint you want to express. That type of discrimination would violate your First Amendment right to free speech.
Libraries can set up reasonable regulations on the “time, place, and manner” of events – for example, they could only open their meeting rooms for public use during certain hours, only open certain rooms to the public, or close their meeting rooms to public use altogether. However, if a library takes any of these steps with the intent of shutting out certain speakers (as the ALA director suggested in the video above), this may also violate the First Amendment.
If you suspect that a library is trying to shut you out of a public space because you want to host a pro-family story hour, contact us – we may be able to help! Read about how MFI helped restore this Chelmsford pastor’s story hour after the library tried to shut it down.
MFI is the front line of defense in MA protecting faith, family, and freedom. Help us continue our vital work with a financial gift.
For our families,
Director of Communications, Research, and Operations
