Louisiana Senate committee blocks opponent testimony on library bill, then approves it

A Louisiana Senate panel cut short testimony on a bill that would limit access to content about gender and sexuality in libraries, preventing opponents of the measure from speaking before unanimously approving the legislation Thursday.

The Senate Education Committee had heard testimony from two supporters of Senate Bill 7, which would set up guardrails against children’s’ access to sexually explicit materials in public libraries, when state Sen. Bodi White, R-Central, motioned to end the testimony.

“They can speak without me. I’m leaving,” White said, his microphone still on. “I’ve got 14 people waiting on me.”

State Sen. Heather Cloud, R-Turkey Creek, is sponsoring SB 7 amid a handful of other efforts in the legislature that target content dealing with gender and sexuality. Critics say the bills disproportionately target LGBTQ+ materials and hearken back to dangerous past censorship movements.

Opponents of Cloud’s bill did not get time to testify Wednesday. On White’s microphone, Cloud could briefly be heard asking if people could continue to testify because “I know individuals have driven from all over Louisiana to share their support or opposition.”

Some who had arrived to speak against the measure cried out in protest as Education Committee chairman Sen. Cleo Fields, D-Baton Rouge, approved White’s motion and adjourned the meeting. Senate rules allow for an abrupt end to public debate over bills if a motion is offered and approved to do so, regardless of how many people are waiting to be heard.

Mary Stein, a librarian in Baton Rouge who said she did not come to speak on behalf of her employer, said in an interview that she planned to oppose the bill by talking about how libraries can foster more acceptance of LGBTQ+ people.

“They don’t know how to navigate a world where they’re faced with these issues,” Stein said, referring to lawmakers who propose legislation such as Cloud’s.

Her bill would require libraries to adopt card systems that allow parents to select a card that allows children to check out sexually explicit materials available physically or digitally in libraries, among other guardrails. Children whose parents do not sign off on those cards would not be able to access those materials.

Cloud said the measure would create common-sense rules to help parents protect children from inappropriate content. The bill does not propose banning or removing any material from libraries. But opponents have slammed the legislation as part of a broader trend of censorship of LGBTQ+ content, as various Republican-controlled state legislatures have adopted similar laws nationwide.

“The freedom we enjoy in Louisiana — and in our libraries — gives us the opportunity to explore new ideas and information that can challenge us to think,” the Louisiana Library Association said in a statement before the hearing. “The recent attempts to censor materials deemed objectionable by certain groups are like a closed book disallowing the opportunity to learn.”

Two people who testified in favor of the bill on Thursday specifically mentioned books that contain LGBTQ+ content — “The Gay BCs,” “My Princess Boy,” and “Gender Queer.” One of the speakers claimed that “Gender Queer” sits in youth sections of libraries.

Stein, the East Baton Rouge librarian who opposed the bill, said that had she been allowed to testify, she would have corrected that speaker. At least in East Baton Rouge, “Gender Queer” is in the adult section, Stein said.

The education committee’s discussion came a day after two bills affecting LGBTQ+ students’ rights cleared a House committee. Those bills would ban discussion of gender and sexual identity in classrooms and effectively bar the use of pronouns not assigned to students at birth, if teachers object to such use.

As his committee adjourned, Fields apologized to people who did not get the chance to testify as they filed out of the committee room.

“I want to apologize for those who were in opposition who did not get an opportunity to be heard,” he said. “This is the process, and I want to thank you all for coming.”

SB 7 now heads to the full Senate. Members of the Education Committee who were present and agreed to advance the bill on Thursday afternoon are: