A group of Republican senators wants to know whether taxpayer funds have been used by the American Library Association to block readings of books by Christian author Kirk Cameron while the group advocates “drag queen story hours.”
The lawmakers, led by Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, demanded the information in a letter Friday to Crosby Kemper III, director of the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services and a Trump nominee. They pressed Mr. Kemper to determine what the library association has done with federal funds approved for the group.
The senators also want current federal funding for the group halted while the association’s conduct is investigated.
“The ALA should not be eligible to receive federal funding should an investigation find that the ALA violated the First Amendment rights of Americans,” the letter states.
Joining Mr. Rubio in signing the letter are Sens. Mike Braun of Indiana and Kevin Cramer of North Dakota.
They said the public library group has received millions of dollars in taxpayer funds over several decades, including money for “free community engagement training.”
The ALA made headlines last month when Deborah Caldwell-Stone, who heads the group’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, gave an online presentation suggesting strategies to block the use of public meeting rooms in local libraries on Aug. 5, which Mr. Cameron’s publisher, Brave Books, is promoting nationwide as a day to visit libraries to read the author’s children’s books.
“You can limit access to meeting rooms to persons eligible to hold a library card in your community. You could make a priority for library-sponsored programs,” Ms. Caldwell-Stone said in the June 8 online presentation, which was posted on Library 2.0.
She said that “another option” would be for a library to offer alternative programs on Aug. 5, “making it unavailable for the public.”
ALA says it is the world’s “oldest, largest, and most influential library association,” with a roster of more than 50,000 members.
Ms. Caldwell-Stone acknowledged that libraries must offer public spaces to interested parties on a nondiscriminatory basis, saying, “If someone who’s eligible to use the room books the room, and has a Kirk Cameron story hour, they’re entitled to do that.”
She said that if a Cameron-related event is scheduled, libraries can “have a library-sponsored Pride festival the same day and fill the library with rainbows” and put up posters signaling a commitment to “inclusion and diversity.”
But if the ALA is using taxpayer dollars to promote such efforts, that is unacceptable, Mr. Rubio and his colleagues wrote.
“As a recipient of federal funds, the ALA is prohibited from using taxpayer dollars to violate the First Amendment,” the letter notes. “However, it appears the ALA is ignoring this prohibition for the sole purpose of silencing Brave Books while simultaneously also advocating for ’Drag Queen Story Hour.’”
According to the GOP senators, “Brave Books deserves the same opportunity to host and organize events in public libraries as other groups, including those that the ALA has taken an aggressive role promoting.”
According to the IMLS database, the ALA received $249,963 in federal funds in fiscal 2023 for a two-year project “to develop new tools and training models to support authentic engagement of Spanish-speaking families” in association with the National Center for Families Learning.
The Washington Times contacted the American Library Association for comment.
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.
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