PETITION UPDATE (6/9/20) -

LifeSite and the Personhood Alliance have delivered our joint petition to State Representative Ben Baker (R), supporting his bill HB 2044, Parental Oversight of Public Libraries Act, which would give more power to parents, to stop minors being exposed to "age-inappropriate sexual material."

Mr. Paul Gewalt, the Personhood Alliance's leadership in Missouri, hand-delivered over 27,000 petition signatures to Rep. Baker, and reported that the presentation was well-received, stating: "This petition will lend much credibility to support HB 2044. The efforts of the Personhood Alliance and LifeSiteNews will not go unrecognized as this bill builds momentum in Missouri toward passage."

While HB2044 was not voted on because of the suspension of the Missouri General Assembly during the coronavirus crisis, Rep. Baker will reintroduce his bill during the next legislative session starting in January, 2021.

Many thanks to all signers. We will keep you updated on this petition when the next legislative session begins.

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A bill proposed in Missouri could put power back in the hands of parents, over librarians who are giving minors "age-inappropriate sexual material" and promoting events like the so-called Drag Queen Story Hour.

Earlier this month, Rep. Ben Baker (R - MO) proposed the "Parental Oversight of Public Libraries Act," out of concern for children. And, now, he is being attacked by LGBT activists, and says that he has even received death threats.

LifeSite and the Personhood Alliance are proud to stand with Rep. Baker, and support his legislation to protect children from sexualization and possible predation taking place in taxpayer-funded public libraries.

Please SIGN this petition and say: #IStandWithRepresentativeBaker

And, in fact, Rep. Baker's proposed bill is a direct result of LifeSite's and Personhood Alliance's original petition efforts.

As Rep. Baker told KOAM TV: "The main thing is I want to be able to take my kids to a library and make sure they’re in a safe environment, and that they’re not gonna be exposed to something that is objectionable material. Unfortunately, there are some libraries in the state of Missouri that have done this. And that’s a problem."

Unfortunately, unaccountable library boards and committees and even some librarians have put innocent children at risk, proving that they cannot be trusted to place the best interests of children above the interests of the adult LGBT community.

Quite simply, legislators want to equip parents, in every state, to regain control of their local libraries.

LifeSite and Personhood Alliance believe that putting the power back into the hands of parents is a good idea.

We said that we would take our concerns to state and federal legislators, and that's exactly what we did.

Immediately after hand-delivering our petition to the American Library Association's Senior Director of Public Policy and Government Relations, Dr. Alan Inouye, we received interest from several state legislators like Rep. Baker, who wanted to make libraries safe for children.

And, thanks to Rep. Baker, the process of parents taking back control of local, public libraries has now started in Missouri. But, we need that process to catch fire in every state across the nation.

Such legal initiatives can put a stop to exposing children to perverse sexual material which is beyond their years and comprehension - like what happens at Drag Queen Story Hours - and, we will continue to promote these initiatives.

Thank you for SIGNING and SHARING this petition which supports Rep. Ben Baker and his legislation to protect children from the Drag Queen Story Hour.

We simply cannot leave the safeguarding of children's innocence to librarians. Parents must regain control of their public libraries.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT REP BAKER'S BILL:

HB 2044: https://house.mo.gov/Bill.aspx?bill=HB2044&year=2020&code=R

Rep. Baker's bill would require that libraries establish parental review boards, elected from the local community, which would decide which material would go into which section in the library (adult's or children's), seeking to ensure that children are not exposed to "age-inappropriate sexual content."

That would include events, like the so-called Drag Queen Story Hour, as well as reading and viewing material.

Public libraries which do not use parental review boards would lose state funding, and librarians who violate the proposed law could be subject to sanctions.

“The main thing that I’ve heard is that I want to ban books or ban content or censor content, and that’s not the case. I just think that there’s a line between what is open and available access for our children,” says Rep. Baker. “Even the bill specifies it wouldn’t be taken out of the library, it would just be put in a section that’s not for children.”

https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/missouri-bill-introduced-to-let-parents-keep-drag-queen-story-hours-out-of-libraries

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PETITION: Drag queens don't belong in kids' libraries - #IStandWithRepresentativeBaker

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