Ah, Tennessee

I lived in Tennessee from 1958, when my parents moved to Oak Ridge, until 1977 when I moved to Chapel Hill NC to start grad school. While these might be considered my “formative years,” I don’t consider myself a Tennessean. Judged by number of years spent in a state, I’m Missourian, since I lived in St. Louis for 40 years. I don’t think any native St. Louisans would consider me one of them, though. It’s ok. I eschew tribalism in all its manifestations.

With that disclaimer, I disown Tennessee on this one:

“One hundred and eighty-one public libraries in Tennessee are reviewing their children’s collections after Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett (R) ordered them to remove books with LGBTQ themes or characters. Hargett suggested that libraries that made such books available to children were violating federal and state law. Some libraries have closed for days so staff could focus on weeding out prohibited volumes.”

*snip*

“In Tennessee, Hargett is attempting to censor the idea that LGBTQ people are acceptable members of society.

“The policy Hargett is imposing on libraries also discriminates against people on the basis of sex and gender, in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.”

Shame on Hargett, and shame on the people who elected and support him.”

https://popular.info/p/tennessee-public-libraries-close

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