One member of the anti-LGBT Minnesota Child Protection League believes that America’s librarians “are trying to expose kids early to as much sexual stuff as they can.” The MNCPL, which has the ear of many of Minnesota’s elected Republicans, has been claiming that sexual education in public schools amounts to obscenity and that anti-bullying statutes lead to pornography in the classroom.
According to Julie Quist, who is listed as the Secretary and Treasurer for the Minnesota Child Protection League Action, the American Library Association has been taken over by “sexual extremists.” She made the comments in an interview with Virginia radio host JP Moran last week.
Quist’s remarks came during a discussion about sexual education in schools, and she based her remarks off the work of Dr. Judith Reisman. Reisman has been lecturing conservative Christians for decades, warning them that the work of sexologist Dr. Alfred Kinsey is responsible for what she sees as America’s moral decay. The Southern Poverty Law Center calls Reisman as “anti-LGBT conspiracy theorist.” Prominent sexuality researchers have criticized her work, one of which called it “paranoid, pseudoscientific hyperbole with a thinly veiled, hidden agenda.”
Moran and Quist discussed some of Reisman’s writings and came to the conclusion that the American Library Association — the world’s largest association of librarians and libraries — is full of sexual extremists.
Quist: The American Library Association is in complete control by sexual extremists. They are completely run by them. They are an evil organization, I’m sorry to be so blunt and that’s exactly what you will find… It’s happening all over the country. The American Library Association has been taken over by sexual extremists. And it is scary because they do want to expose kids — they are trying to expose kids early to as much sexual stuff as they can and this is their definition of liberation because they have bought into Alfred Kinsey’s idea that all people are sexual from the day they are born and we can’t allow them to be indoctrinated into this idea that is all very, you know, should all be constrained. You’re not really allowed to have sexual intercourse until you are such and such age. It has to be this and has to be that. That is.. all they want to do is undermine that and the way they undermine that very effectively is to expose children as early as possible and as often as possible with shocking pictures that they can never get out of their minds because that causes change… emotions… causes change in a person’s mental state. And it’s an emotional experience and they’ll never forget it.
Here’s the full audio:
That’s interesting. For the record, I do not agree with the following statement: “The American Library Association is in complete control by s3xual extremists.”
That said, citing the SPLC hate group that opposes political free speech does not speak well of the author. Further, the author left out substantive evidence that ALA does indeed promote exploitive material including child p0rnography.
The author, using a hate group to skewer someone as anti-LGBT, completely ignores that ALA itself promotes hatred for homos3xuals in a number of ways, including hiring a homophobe repeatedly for its trainings then ordering librarians to destroy the video evidence of its having done so and the homophobe asking why a woman with small children would let them around a gay man.
Did the author mention the ALA’s leading expert in library filters is someone who made false claims about a male librarian being a s3xual predator, destroying his career, then not apologizing like the others making the same false claims did?
So leaders in ALA being “s3xual extremists” is not the problem. Actions much more serious are the problem, and patrons and even librarians are harmed as a result.
Good for Julie Quist for being the rare voice to be willing to speak up about it, no matter how inartfully. This author Andy Birkey shows that anyone who criticizes ALA is criticized and bullied intentionally to send the message that anyone who dares speak out against ALA’s pro-child p0rn policy can expect to be attacked personally, so no one should dare even try. Andy, you’re a bully, and you’ve ignored the real issue Julie Quist raised related to school children learning sexually inappropriate/exploitive material.
I stand by everything written, including the inclusion of SPLC’s characterization. I did not criticize Quist’s comments, merely presented them within the context in which she presented them. I have no specific allegiances, biases, or feelings about the ALA, and no reason to defend or impugn the organization. That you would characterize my motives as bullying I think speaks more about your own biases and motives than mine.
Andy, I listened to the recording of Julie speaking. How you focused only on her responses to the interviewers questions regarding ALA then wrote what you did I’ll never know. You had to completely overlook the real issue being discussed and zero in on attacking the messenger to write what you did. But don’t feel badly that I said what I said. You are just one of hundreds who blindly defend an organization that will do absolutely anything to promote its own interests because they are simply unaware of what the organization is doing that’s harmful.
Even in your response to me you completely overlook what I said. I see you say you are an LGBT writer. Yet you overlook what I said about ALA’s hate for the LGBT community and just turn your bullying from Julie to me. It’s typical behavior. For example, the Orland Park Public Library has an elected official who admitted to making anti gay remarks and absolutely no one lifts a finger to stop her because she is defending child p0rnography in the library as “intellectual freedom.” You are busy smearing Julie so you could care less about ALA’s LGBT hate — even though you are an LGBT writer.
That said, you were honest enough to leave up my comment and even to respond. That’s rare and I give you credit for that. Usually the bullies simply delete what you have written and mark it as sp@m to make it harder to comment in the future; one even rewrote what I said to make it sinister then attacked me for that sinister writing that she rewrote. I give you credit for not censoring me and for responding.
And in the first paragraph you did characterize her, via her organization in which she holds a prominent position, as “anti-LGBT” and making false claims about sex education and anti-bullying efforts.
I’m an active member of ALA and an out queer activist… not really sure where the anti-lgbt hate you are talking about is coming from SAFELIBRARIES…. In fact, the ALA glbt round table is one of the oldest substantive queer professional groups in the country. And Quist specifically said that “They are an evil organization, I’m sorry to be so blunt and that’s exactly what you will find… ” I think it’s fine to focus on that because that is a ridiculous statement and discredits her pretty easily.
Wick, congratulations, you are the very first librarian to even express a mild interest in even the possibility that ALA is antigay. I’ve been talking about it for years, writing about it, acting to stop it, actually stopped it in one case, and you are the very first librarian to perk up the ears. I say this as I am truly amazed someone even cares to even take a casual look. As Andy illustrated, it’s an issue that gets consistently ignored.
ALA generally is terrific. ALA GLBT too, except for one member who also overlooks the gay hate issue just to besmirch me, the one who got drunk on YouTube while interviewing JP then commented on her state of drunkenness and switched to soda, and she has left her job as a public librarian. Librarians far and wide are really wonderful people and caring, for everyone.
But not every librarian, in specific, not the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. OIF has harmed the LGBT community in a number of ways I have detailed on my blog post.
One thing I may not have written clearly enough is how ALA used a trainer who made a homophobic statement during training (let alone previously and repeatedly), about why would a woman let her small children around a gay man. To me, that’s homophobic. Then, get this, OIF reupped her for more training, even after knowing she made a homophobic statement. Can you imagine a coworker of yours makes homophobic statements as part of training a class, then your boss reups that homophobe to teach more classes? Basically, that’s what OIF did. To me, that’s homophobic.
Worse, when I and others began to gather the evidence of this, OIF, using a personal email account, sent out an email blast to all trainees to tell then to destroy all notes and all copies of the videotaped evidence because of the potential for exposure. This is evidence I need to defend myself in a defamation lawsuit brought against me by the person ALA used for training who made the homophobic statements. I am literally defending myself in federal court for reporting on someone reporting on the homophobic statements this ALA trainer made. I’m supporting gay rights. And no library media writes about this, not Library Journal, not ALA’s own American Libraries. And OIF is actively working to thwart my supporting gay rights by ordering the destruction of evidence, as I am about to show.
I know that trainer made homophobic statements while training because at least one of the librarian trainees revealed as much in an email in her revulsion at what ALA was training librarians to do using this particular homophobic trainer. So I attempted to obtain the videotaped evidence to show people like you who have open minds. (Many have closed minds and their love for anything OIF trumps LGBT issues or anything else. That ALA GLBT person I mentioned above, for example, exhorted people to block me on Twitter and roughly about 100 people did. To her, silencing me outweighed the possibility for inquiring about gay hate within ALA’s own ranks. To me, that’s homophobic.)
ALA OIF actively moved and continues moving to destroy that very evidence of homophobia. OIF’s Deputy Director sent out an email that everyone at the training should get rid of the evidence of the homophobic training ALA provided. Among other statements, the exact sentence was, “Deny, delete, defend. – dcs”
To me, telling people to destroy evidence, public records, no less, to hide homophobia is itself homophobic. And destroying the evidence so that I cannot exercise free speech and report on someone reporting on that homophobia is even worse. But this is what OIF has done and continues doing. To me, that is homophobic. And it just one example of OIF’s gay hate activities.
By the way, I have been offered a settlement. If I agreed to delete my reporting on someone reporting on gay hate, the case would be dropped. Naturally I refused. Naturally I view the effort to get me to censor my exposing homophobia as homophobic in and of itself. For your interest, here is what I wrote that I was supposed to delete if I wanted to get out of the case: “Gay Hate @ Your Library.” http://safelibraries.blogspot.com/2014/07/gay-hate-at-your-library.html
By the way, the target of that trainer’s homophobia is my cowriter on SafeLibraries.
Wick, if there’s anything you can do to help wake up people to what OIF (not ALA generally) is doing, well that would be really great. But everyone knows, as Will Manley wrote, that librarians fear OIF and fear for their jobs for speaking against it. So I’ll fully understand if you do nothing further.
As to Quist, she made statements that are clearly inaccurate, even funny, and librarians are all laughing at her now on twitter. She also made statements that are generally on target. That’s not being discussed, of course, as usual, we wouldn’t want to criticize OIF, at least publicly.
The only LGBTQ hate I’ve witnessed has come from Safe Libraries guy, and not ALA. He’s a homophobe and a misogynist.
I’m also curious what would happen if we typed “sexual” instead of “s3xual”.
My last comment I think didn’t go through, sorry if this is a repost…
I’m not really scared of any of the things you mentioned. I’ve been homeless or in poverty for most of my life so I’m not really concerned about job security in the way most people are… That said, I’m a big fan of ALA/OIF and to say that they told their staff to delete evidence and deny something that happened in one of their trainings is against their entire purpose and therefore a pretty substantial accusation. I’ll look into it more but it seems pretty unlikely and is not really adding up to me. And I’m definitely not going to listen to anything else from Quist. The pieces I’ve seen invalidate and overshadow any slivers of truth she might have. I’m likely one of the sexual extremists she’s talking about and I’m not interested in giving her any more height to her soapbox.
If Quist’s children are reading things that she doesn’t approve of, this is not the fault of libraries, librarians, or the ALA. Just like television, the internet, and movies, libraries contain books that may or may not be objectionable to certain individuals. If Quist is afraid of what her children are being exposed to (in the library, on the internet, on TV), then she needs to better supervise her children.
The library is not the parent.
You are.
SAFELIBRARIES- (Dan, I’m Guessing?)
I’ve done a lot of research since yesterday. It is pretty clear from your writing that you are a sensationalist who will exacerbate any situation if you think it will get you clicks and help you hurt ALA. Like Ms. Quist, any slivers of truth in your writing are overshadowed by your petty and obtusely proffered agenda. It is clear from your other blogs that you are not actually concerned with any instance of homophobia but are simply latching onto it to help you gain followers. Luckily, as you suggested, I researched more which was very enlightening… but not in the way that you hoped. If you are going to cry homophobia in the future (up to the point of a lawsuit!), maybe don’t have so many sensationalist articles on your blog focused on the gay community and maybe don’t offer the homophobes who admire you advice on how to better strategically further their cause…
“I am suggesting that no matter how valid concerns about homosexuality may be, combining them with concerns for child safety in public libraries will make the desired goal of protecting children impossible. Indeed, that is exactly why those opposed to protecting children attempt to add extraneous issues, and homosexuality is just that.”
You are obviously an opportunist with no real concern for the gay community. Please stop your current use of my community as some sort of shield. It is pathetic and easy to see through.
I find men who write and think the way you do often have a lot secrets themselves. Good luck in your life, Dan.
Wick, if I can ask you to reopen your mind for a little more, listen. What I wrote that you criticized is an example of achieving a goal via a different means. ALA gets people to stop challenging books about homosexuality by bullying and browbeating them. I do it with respectful conversation. When you have respectful conversations, it helps to shape arguments in a way target audiences understand. ALA does that, like when it labels every single person who even hints at challenging a book as a “censor.” It uses that language to make its argument; it knows its audience. Well I just did the same thing. I used language the person would understand. It was effective and she dropped her opposition to the book. I then published my response as an example of a reasonable way to speak with people instead of beating them down as ALA does. If you want to join those who attack me personally while overlooking the LGBT hate that runs in OIF’s veins, all I can say is I predicted that in my comment above when I said no one ever speaks out against OIF. Join the crowd, if you wish. Meantime, I’ll keep standing up for LGBT rights against OIF that seeks to squash them and worsen conditions generally for the LGBT community. Sure I oppose OIF for other reasons too but so what? I didn’t make OIF hate gays, I’m just reporting on it with my coauthor, the gay man OIF attacks and excluded from a public meeting that was about him, and providing reliable sources to prove it, or pointing out where OIF is destroying the evidence.
“I find men who write and think the way you do often have a lot secrets themselves.” In my 15 years of doing what I do, once and only once did an librarian who opposes what I do care to publish anything significant about me. He spent the entire effort trying to find out the “secrets” I’m hiding. I had none. I just saw an injustice, saw that children where mainly the victims, and decided to act. He didn’t care about the issues I was raising, only in trying to find my “secrets” so he could use them to embarrass and silence me. Now you have done that too by implicating I have “secrets” I’m hiding, as if you’d have to be crazy to oppose the wonderful OIF. So I guess your mind is closed and you too will defend or paper over OIF’s LGBT hate if you can use it to besmirch me. It’s remarkable how supposed free speech advocates don’t care for free speech when the speaker is saying things they don’t want others to hear.
FYI, for those still having open minds, here is the entire email OIF sent by OIF’s Deputy Director to the people who attended its training where homophobia against my coauthor was used as a teaching tool and ALA reupped that same homophobic trainer for training other librarians:
Subject: URGENT - must delete all documents related to 17 Dec crisis communications workshop
Date: Friday, April 4, 2014 at 4:46:24 PM Central Daylight Time
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
[NOTE: BCCs are not shown, but this document was received in response to a FOIA request for emails sent to OPPL’s director Mary Weimar and OPPL’s public relations employee Bridget Bittman]
In case you are not yet aware there is a situation where we have exposure related to the 17 Dec crisis communications workshop facilitated by RAILS. We are under scrutiny and FOIA requests went out this morning fishing for documents and video. Remove these from your servers today and destroy hard copies. This is an attempt by two individuals to obtain privileged information from the event. It does not appear this is much more than a hunch on the part of requesters but we should not retain any materials from the event as a precaution. As this was a candid and private function not meant for the public it would be best if we purge any records any of us have related to the event. Taking parts of discussion out of context would be harmful so we cannot allow anything from 17 Dec to be produced in response to FOIA. It is advisable to be proactive here and get ahead of this before the individuals gain traction. The OPPL has already been served with a FOIA and it appears the requesters are working down a list and serving the rest of us. These are the same two individuals who have been causing problems since October. They will make hay out of anything they obtain. Do not facilitate this in any way. Leslie at IHLS and Brian at RAILS should run point on deleting all materials before FOIAs are served. There is still time to get ahead of this if we act today. Deny, delete, defend. – dcs
[…] by snarkypants [link] [1 […]
I don’t think anyone is buying Safe Library guy’s act, except right wing extremists like Quist, who most likely got her entire line about the American Library Association wholesale from his own blog. His bleating about “mah free speech” while attempting to prevent others from being able to access it in libraries while using buzzwords like “homophobia” and “exploitation” as a smoke screen to mask his reactionary, hateful, anti-intellectual position is exactly the same as his “allies” in GamerGate (who are totally not a right wing outfit, you guys!). I guess it’s just actually about ethics in preventing people from freely accessing information, eh? His agenda is nothing more than obvious garden variety ultraconservatism.
I won’t say anything else about him personally, except that it is obvious his fear and hatred of the internet stems from his own addiction and obsession with it; I mean, come on, he’s posted like five comments here each three or four times longer than the original article and pops up like Hastur from the old Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game whenever and wherever someone online invokes his name or the ALA, at any time of the day or night. It is obviously an unhealthy preoccupation.
Comments are closed.