One councilman opposed a women’s health class “because it was related to sexual matters.”
Oct. 10 meeting minutes — made public today shortly after a request from WITF — show council member Paul Swangren, Jr. “requested a line-item review” of the library’s finances to make sure each item reflected “conservative values.”
“He was not comfortable with monies going towards Women Health class because it was related to sexual matters.”
Council Member Swangren, tell us you're a fascist without telling us you're a fascist.
Libraries are information centers. Their agenda, if they can be said to have one, is education. They do not and SHOULD not have to conform to "conservative values" in order to be worthy of funding. Furthermore, everyone has the right to learn about the function of the human body as it pertains to sexual health, as this is a vital part of health education that is both woefully underrepresented and poorly taught in public schools.
Sex education is not a moral issue. Save the preaching for the pulpit and leave the librarians alone to help the public learn the vital life lessons you forbid to be taught elsewhere.
Signal-boosting this for my home state in the hopes that this will receive the attention and pushback it deserves.
