Ben Baker's library bill reaches the New York Times

Ben Baker's Parental Oversight of Public Libraries bill reached the pages of the New York Times today.

The grandstanding Neosho Republican did not waste an opportunity to bring his fear of drag queens to the nation's attention:

“What inspired this bill is becoming aware of what is taking place at our publicly funded libraries with events like Drag Queen Story Hour, and materials that have a clear agenda of grooming our children for the L.G.B.T.Q. community with adult themes and content that fit the description of a objectionable sexual nature,” Mr. Baker said on Monday.

Under the terms of Baker's legislation, library officials would have to inform the public that a meeting is going to be held to elect members of the committee that will make all such decisions. Only those who attend that meeting would be eligible to vote for committee members.

After that, the bill specifies that all decisions of the committee are final and cannot be overturned by publicly elected library boards or boards that have been appointed by elected public officials.

Library employees who violate the terms of the act would be subject to fine or imprisonment.

The Times article also cited opponents of the bill:

“This is the first time we have ever seen a bill that proposes a body elected from a community meeting that would be able to override the decisions of an appointed library board or duly elected library board,” Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, said on Sunday.

It should be noted that Baker's bill, like much of his legislation, has no co-sponsors and at the moment has not been assigned to a committee.