There was an article written in The Reporter in October about the Telford Borough and the supposed “defunding” of the Indian Valley Public Library and the “banning of books.” Now I know for many of you, including myself, the library is a nostalgic place with fun community programs and quiet desk places to work. The library is not “all bad” and I want to make that clear. Just because someone wants to address an issue that is going wrong in a place, doesn’t mean that the entire place or all its workers are “bad.” Those of us advocating for change in the library aren’t calling anyone names and we don’t want to defund the library. We want the library to go back to being a safe place for all children.

That is why Telford Borough Council member Bob Jacobus, along with the support of taxpayers throughout Telford and other townships who fund the library, want to pause that funding until they make it a safe place for all children. We have asked for months for the library to address the concerns of hundreds of parents, but they have refused and left us with no other choice.

Now, you might be asking yourself… “Is it really that bad”? I would encourage you to go to www.libraryloophole.com and download the report for yourself to see what we are talking about. Books like “Gender Queer” have cartoon images of boys having oral sex. Books like “Fun Home” have graphic cartoon images of girls having oral sex. Books like “This Book is Gay” teach children how to use sex apps to meet up with adults for sex.

We are not talking about classic novels; we are talking about graphic pornography geared towards children. You see, progressive activists would like to lump classic literature from the “banned books list” in with the books containing graphic pornography to make you think that conservatives are crazed religious zealots looking to ban large swaths of literature. They also assert that many of the books referred to, like “This Book is Gay” and “Gender Queer,” are being attacked solely because they are “LGBTQ+” books. That couldn’t be further from the truth. All we are asking is for books containing pornographic images or text to have an age restriction so that they are not accessible to minors in the library. We are not BANNING anything. For better or for worse, we do believe in free speech and expression.

I know of no conservative looking to ban, for example, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, as shown on the supposed banned books list. And I know of no conservatives that want an age restriction on the book “Gender Queer” solely because it is an “LGBTQ” book. The book could be called “Heterosexual Love” and contain images of heterosexual sex acts, and most parents would STILL agree that children should not have access to these books.

Pornography, in any form, is not ok for children! We know this — it damages their minds and does harm to their future relationships. And there are many people in the LGBTQ community that agree with that stance — I’m just sad that not more of them speak up. Furthermore, we have not asked the library to remove these books; we have asked for an AGE restriction such that minors cannot access these books while in the library. There is no magical force field around the young adult to adult section that prevents kids from being there. And of course, common sense tells you that if a parent has more than one child it becomes impossible to monitor every book a child picks up.

In addition, if you took these same books to the playground outside the library and distributed them to children, you would be arrested for violating obscenity laws. You would be accused, and rightfully so, of grooming children. Period. That’s a fact. You may not like that, but that is the truth of the content in these books.

So when Bob Jacobus asked during the borough meeting about putting an age restriction on pornography in the library, the library representative said point blank, “No”. And of course that was left out of the last news article. This is why parents are asking our local representatives to hold the library accountable by pausing funding until they are ready to take the necessary actions to protect the children in our community.

Kaitlin Derstine

Telford