Rep. Adam Niemerg: Gov. Pritzker signs measure to limit local control at IL libraries

State Representative Adam Niemerg. Photo submitted by State Rep Niemerg.

For Immediate Release – June 14, 2023

Dieterich, IL – The war on Illinois families continues with a newly signed law denying local library boards discretion in deciding what content they make available to the public, according to State Rep. Adam Niemerg (R-Dietrich).

Governor JB Pritzker has signed House Bill 2789 requiring Illinois libraries to adopt the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights if they want to receive state grants. According to the American Library Association, Library Bill of Rights material cannot be removed for partisan or personal reasons.

This legislation effectively makes it impossible for local library boards to block pornographic material from their shelves. It strips away local control of libraries and continues the war on families in Illinois. Supporters of this new law are deliberately misrepresenting the views of legislators like me who support the rights of parents. No one suggests we take “The Catcher in the Rye” off shelves. We want local library boards to have the discretion to remove sexually explicit material aimed at kids. No one is saying these books can’t be published and be available in bookstores. We don’t want it made readily available to kids at school or the library.

House Bill 2789 is essentially a trailer bill to Senate Bill 818 approved in the 102nd General Assembly. Senate Bill 818 requires schools to adopt the National Sex Education standards as a condition of offering any sex education classes. The National Sex Education standards provide age-inappropriate, sexually explicit material to kids starting in kindergarten.

What is happening here is a deliberate effort to sexualize kids. The advocates for these extreme measures want this to be a debate about so-called book banning, but this is just a tactic to distract the public from what they are doing to our kids. No one would approve of kids being able to look at Hustler magazine at a library. So why is it OK to give kids access to pornography just because it is available in a book with a spine as opposed to a magazine bound by a stapler? Pornography is pornography, regardless of whether it is in a book or a magazine. This new law is not about book banning. It is about stripping parents of their rights and allowing perverts unfettered access to our kids. Support for House Bill 2789 is support for the sexualization of children.