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National library conference speaker gives librarians tips on how to hide LGBTQ content from parents

June 22, 2023 | | Print Article

It used to be in America that, when you thought of a librarian, you pictured a wholesome cat lady with a lot of books to go with her herbal tea, but many of today’s librarians are LGTBQ activists intent on pushing “gender-affirming” materials into the hands of very young readers, whether the parents wish to challenge them or not.

During a June “Banned Books and Censorship” conference held by Library 2.0, University of South Carolina instructor Valerie Byrd Fort was full of advice for handling parental concerns over LGTBQ content, including keeping “identity” labels — “LGTBQIA+” or “Gays Fiction” for example — off of books so parents won’t find them.

“Don’t label the books with identity-based subject headings like ‘LGBTQIA+’ or ‘Gays Fiction,'” Fort said. “Aside from being bad practice, it makes it too easy for parents or community members to find those kinds of books … Don’t make it hard for those necessarily easy for those groups to find, but make it easy for those who want the books. The examples here are to create ways for students to find these books by offering a physical list they can look at while they are in the library.”

(Video: YouTube)

“Also,” Fort suggested, “build digital collections or reading lists that can be accessed via, maybe a username and password for just your patrons or just your students.”

That way, Fort reasoned, it “will help kind of make it very hard” for people who “aren’t even a part of a certain library community” to challenge books.

It’s a librarian’s job, she said, to explain to concerned students that “just because something isn’t for them, that doesn’t mean we’re going to keep it from everyone else.”

If a kid does want to check out a potentially offensive book, Fort favors offering “privacy covers” to the child to help hide what they are reading.

As BizPac Review has been reporting for some time now, the issue of inappropriate books on school library shelves has been a hot-button issue for some time now.

In February, an 11-year-old sixth-grade student shocked the senses of his Maine school board when he read aloud from a book he found in the Windham Middle School library.

“‘My back over my hips, as I ask if we should take our clothes off. And he’s saying yes before I finish my sentence. He’s pulling off my t-shirt, laughing when I can’t undo his shirt buttons. He’s undoing my belt,'” Knox Zajac read from the book “Nick and Charlie.”


And just last month in Florida — the state many consider to be “ground zero” for the anti-woke revolution — the Hillsborough County school board voted to remove copies of “This Book Is Gay” from its middle school libraries.

The book, by Juno Dawson, presented images of male and female genitals, same-sex intercourse, and the use of dating apps like Grindr, as well as information on how to perform sexual acts.


“A Connecticut school district approved a picture book for second graders that discussed transgenderism,” the Daily Caller reported on Tuesday. “A Virginia town board voted to partially restrict funds to a library after the community protested sexually explicit books being made available in the kid’s section.”

“For these events, none of the speakers are compensated, and the opening keynote panel host chooses his or her own panel members,” a Library 2.0 spokesperson told the outlet in response to Fort’s seminar. “So those particular remarks, or any remarks in that context, do not represent the position of the conference organizers, as we’ve never taken a position on any issue. And while we might personally agree or disagree with specific sentiments that are expressed in forum discussions or conference sessions, we’ve never censored or deleted any content–although we obviously would if it were slanderous or illegal.”

On Twitter, Fort’s remarks have sparked a fresh wave of fury.

One couldn’t believe how quickly the will of the parents has been “undermined.”

“It baffles me how fast they were able to undermine parental authority by just telling the kids to keep secrets,” the user noted. “What could possibly go wrong?”

Melissa Fine
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