Pornographic books in Samuels Library in kids section

I’m not here to tell you what to do, and you’re not here to tell me what to do. But in Front Royal and Warren County, our community consensus centers around traditional values. What is happening in Samuels Library is totally age-inappropriate. There’s no place in a Warren County library for pornography in the children’s section. If you want to use your private money to educate your children in the privacy of your own home in whatever way you want, no one opposes you. That said, Samuels Library is a public space, and the tax-paying citizens of Warren County don’t want their money going to a porn slush fund for kids.

One book, “This is why they Hate Us” by Aaron Aceves, which is currently available in the Young Adults section of the library, includes a graphic description of a male minor providing oral sex to another male minor (p. 239-40):

Instead of hitting me, he gently releases my hands and kneels in front of me, not letting go of my eyes for a second. Then he reaches for my zipper. Oh, God, this is happening. I help him lower my pants and underwear until they’re around my ankles. Then he puts his mouth on me.

It’s evident within the first two seconds that not only has he done this before, he’s a f***ing [not censored in original] pro. This can’t be real. How is this happening? How am I this lucky?

It goes on, but you get the picture.

Not wanting books like this to be purchased and stocked by the Samuels Library is not a matter of “book banning” – it’s an issue of not wanting tax dollars going towards a pornography slush fund for children. 80-90% of the Samuels Library budget comes from our Warren County tax dollars. Our hard-earned money is being taken by the county and being forked over to a library that purchases porn about children for children.

I met with the Samuels Library Director and members of the library board and asked them what they thought about this content being available in the kid’s section. I even read this passage out loud to them to gauge their response. Their view was and is that it should be available to kids in the library at any time. The one caveat they add is that children should only read it “with a parent’s permission.”

This argument deliberately obscures the library’s own policies. The library lets children check out whatever books they want, whenever they want. They never require a parent’s permission first. And in fact, the library argues that it would be a violation of the child’s First Amendment rights to ask her parent’s permission before she checks out a book.

If you want to educate your children in the privacy of your own home in the way you find most appropriate, that’s your choice. No one in Warren County will stop you. But that’s not how we want our tax dollars to be spent on our community library.

Isaac Easton
Front Royal