All children have the right to grow up and reach maturity without having their innocence stolen through exposure to obscene and perverted content, yet right now, kids across Idaho are being exposed to sexually explicit materials in their local schools and libraries!
Idaho law generally prohibits disseminating “material harmful to minors” to children, but the law carves out broad exceptions for a “school, college, university, museum or public library,” allowing these institutions to freely disseminate obscene materials to kids. The same books that a private bookstore could face criminal charges for even allowing children to see can be proudly promoted to young kids in a public library!
This includes truly shocking materials that feature graphic nudity and explicit descriptions of deviant sexual behavior. Even if your local library is one of the few that doesn’t have obscene books on the shelves of its kids’ section, such materials are still available through inter-library lending networks, and they may also be available in digital form. Additionally problematic is the fact that most libraries do not prevent minors from accessing or even checking out explicit materials from the adult section of the library.
It’s up to us as concerned parents and engaged citizens to take control of our local school boards and library districts in order to rid them of the obscene and perverted materials that are being used to indoctrinate our kids. We must also update and strengthen Idaho code to remove all exceptions to the laws prohibiting the dissemination of harmful materials to minors.
