A new book ban goes into effect in Idaho on July 1.

House Bill 710, a key political win for the Idaho Family Policy Center (IFPC), is targeted at books with Black, feminist or LGBTQ+ themes. It allows any person affiliated with a student at a public or private school to sue its library for carrying a book with “obscene materials.”

The policy defines obscene materials as any literature containing nudity or homosexuality.

While the Bible contains each of these concepts in both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, it does not seem that Christian and Jewish texts were the intended target of the ban, but rather books written by queer or Black authors.

IFPC voiced its opposition to The Handmaid’s Tale, the popular dystopian novel criticizing fascism and misogyny, on June 7 after it was removed from the Idaho Fine Arts Academy school library.

Governor Brad Little [R] signed the policy in April, saying that the bill would keep children from reading harmful materials.

The Idaho Library Association is against the bill and says it is harmful to young people, librarians and LGBTQ+ people.

Idaho’s education system ranked 47th in a January analysis of state education levels conducted by Scholaroo.

  • Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works
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    5 months ago

    While the Bible contains each of these concepts in both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, it does not seem that Christian and Jewish texts were the intended target of the ban, but rather books written by queer or Black authors.

    So what, if those are the absurd rules that have passed they should be applied. If your special book meets the criteria sounds like a good reason not to have such a law in the first place.

    • Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Conservatism is fascism. The more conservative one is, the more fascist one is. Conservatives have never, ever supported free speech. Never.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    The Idaho Library Association is against the bill and says it is harmful to young people, librarians and LGBTQ+ people.

    Yes, that is the point.

  • pdxfed@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    The Bible has a passage about how men should noy lie with animals. Beastiality should be in libraries?

    • Snowclone@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      It also has teenage girls date raping their dad. Instructions on how to give an abortion, the punishment of a pregnancy being lost through intentional means, which is far less than the punishment for murder, at least five genders, a man being punished by God for FAILING to nut in his brothers wife, which is LAW, God doing horrible shit to Job just to have a laugh, and Jesus going hard against a fruit tree even though the time of figs was not.

      • barsquid@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        I can forgive Jesus since he also saw a bunch of moneylenders and just braided a whip right then and there to fuck them up. Another little tale Christians deliberately do not read.

        • Snowclone@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          I like how they come up with bizarre excuses to believe the clear opposite of what Jesus taught. '‘No no the gate of the city wall was called the ‘eye of the needle’ camels DID fit!’

  • GoofSchmoofer@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    It would be cool if a private citizen or two set up tables around Idaho towns and just gave away these banned books to anyone that wanted them. The fear is those people that follow the teaching of a peace loving hippie that lived 2000 years ago would probably beat them up and threaten to kill them.

  • set_secret@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I simply cannot believe this is a thing in 2024. It’s like we’re living in an alternate reality. Just mind boggling.