Should we protect our children from our local libraries?

Oct. 2, 2022  PLYMOUTH VOICE.

Plymouth Michigan News

OPINION

Guest Editorial

By: Ron Picard

Should we now protect our children from our local libraries?

Libraries are supposed to be a resource for everyone?  It used to be that way.  However, in 2021 the American Library Association (ALA) added a ninth item to their Library Code of Ethics (CoE) which I feel is a real game changer.

In June 2021 the ALA added the following to the CoE: “We work to recognize and dismantle systemic and individual biases; to confront inequity and oppression; to enhance diversity and inclusion; and to advance racial and social justice in our libraries, communities, profession, and associations through awareness, advocacy, education, collaboration, services, and allocation of resources and spaces.”

The ALA now recommends that local libraries become political advocates for the radical civil rights movement called woke culture.

At the July 19, 2022 meeting the Plymouth District Library Board of Trustees officially agreed, voting to include the ALA CoE into the policies that guide how to run our library.

However, the Plymouth Library didn’t bother to wait until after the board’s vote.  In June the library sponsored the Zoom event, “More Than a Pronoun: A Conversation on Gender Identity and Expression”.

This event was marketed to both adults and teens, and was presented by Affirmations Detroit an LGBTQ+ community center.

The event wasn’t a conversation where both sides are represented, but was 90 minutes of carefully crafted activities designed to try and legitimize the political left’s latest views about sexuality.  Gender no longer depends on science, on x and y chromosomes.  No, according to the presentation, doctor’s assign you an “apparent gender” at birth, and that they believe that kind of thinking is obsolete.

As the evening went on, each topic seemed to be more absurd than the one before.

• Traditional thinking all began with the colonization of the Americas. Surprise! It’s Christopher Columbus’ fault!
• It’s up to each culture to choose how many genders they want.
• Mis-pronouncing (i.e., calling a boy “he” if he wants to be called “she”, “xhe” or maybe “ze”) is “like violence in many ways”.
• And of course, if you disagree them, then they are not “safe”.

I don’t believe the views presented are shared by the majority of the population, but the Plymouth District Library has taken it upon itself to push this foolishness.  Before June 2021 libraries realized that sponsoring this type of event was unethical, today it’s policy.

As destructive as this type of event is, targeting children with it is unconscionable.

I’ve coached youth soccer for decades. All coaches take training where we are taught to spot predatory behavior.  The list of behaviors predators use to groom future victims is available online at:

Grooming: Know the warning signs

All children go through stages when they feel insecure or are confused.  It’s our job as adults to guide them through the teenage years, not cultivate those insecurities, falsely tell them they’ll be happier if they explore their gender or sexuality and not to worry if their parents tell them something else.

Parents should be wary about people who are eager to develop trust with their teens while discussing sexual topics.  That should trigger alarm bells in our head.

There was nothing praise worthy about this event.  The fact that at the July Board of Trustees meeting the library staff praised it is alarming.  We should all insist that the Plymouth District Library stop sponsoring these types of events.  We should insist that libraries not be activists for any political cause.

Let’s make sure parents can allow their children go to the library without worrying that the library will try and indoctrinate them.  All it takes is a return to common sense.

Ron Picard is a Plymouth District Library Board of Trustees candidate running in the November Election. An engineer by trade and Plymouth resident since 2010, Picard works as a computer programmer.  His wife, Sheryl, who is an assistant pre-school teacher at Ward Church is a P-CCS School Board candidate. Mrs. Picard is running again after she was narrowly defeated in the 2020 school board election.

The couple is adamant about protecting children and concerned about recent changes in the American Library Association’s Code of Ethics policy recently adopted by the Library District stating, “Library’s should be a force for change.”

The seven-person non-partisan library trustees serve for a term of four years and serve as liaisons within the community.

The views and opinions expressed in this essay are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the PLYMOUTH VOICE.

Plymouth Voice.