What's going on?
Evangelical Republicans are on a streak with banning books in multiple states. Tennessee has hopped on the bandwagon of banning any books that evangelical parents shriek are "obscene," such as books about the Holocaust (like in McMinn County, Tennessee.) For the group that screams the loudest about censorship, they censor everyone and everything that they don't understand and therefore are terrified of.
The bill that's been introduced
As of the time of this writing, Tennessee has introduced a bill to ban "obscene materials," SB 1944, that passed in the House 63 to 24. Evangelicals scream that the left is stealing "children's innocence" by daring to have books with representation of marginalized groups such as the LGBTQIA+ community as well as the Black community.
This bill gives parents the "right" to have books removed from school libraries for "obscene content that can harm children," in which the school board would review the book, effectively censuring what's available in school libraries. Remember, school boards are the ones banning the books after parental freak outs. This bill also leaves the definition of what's considered "obscene and harmful" open to interpretation.
Why are they doing this?
So evangelical parents who are enraged over representation of the LGBTQIA+ community in books have twisted it in their mind that equal representation means less rights for them. But that's what happens when a group of people who actively oppress others are told they can't oppress them any more; they have a tantrum and scream that they're being persecuted because they can't treat others as less than human.
It's incredibly ironic that the very same people who indoctrinate their children from birth to adulthood with a religion that has caused tremendous psychological harm to their youth scream that the "left" is indoctrinating kids. Those same youth who suffer psychological harm from religious indoctrination are leaving the churches in droves as they grow older. There's an entire community of millions of people speaking out about the abuse and toxicity of evangelicalism, and what the indoctrination has done to them, myself included.
What we're doing about it
So now we're releasing our "Ban Bigots not Books" t-shirt. Enjoy the sweet satisfaction of making an impact and getting loud about this.
Evangelicalism is an extremist cult, and they are infiltrating all levels of government all the way down to local government and school boards. They throw fits about "parental rights" and demand being the ONLY people to decide what's best for their children- and yet here they are banning books to remove the parental rights of other parents.
What you can do about it
Vote these people out. Vote them out and hold them accountable for these atrocities discriminating against the LGBTQIA+ community. Hold them accountable for refusing to wear masks and spreading Covid. Hold them accountable for propagating rape culture and blaming the victims. Hold them accountable for removing human rights from people and forcing them to gestate against their will. Call and email your representatives.
Because if we don't, and if these zealot bigots are allowed to continue this trajectory, they will tear down our democracy and force us to live in their sick little theocracy and make you obey THEIR religious beliefs.
Ban bigots, not books.