SEND AN EMAIL: Don't Arrest Librarians in Ohio
Send an email to kill these bad bills in Ohio that would be used to give the government the power to arrest librarians and restrict the books that you are allowed to choose for yourself and your family.
H. B. No. 556 and H. B. 622 are Ohio bills in search of a problem.
They would fine and/or jail teachers and school or public librarians who “pander obscenity to children,” but pandering obscenity is already illegal. There are no mass arrests of educators, in Ohio or across the country, because the books they offer are not obscene.
These bills redefine the definition of obscenity used by the federal Miller Test and removes the exceptions for artistic and literary purposes. Thus, anything from Michelangelo's "David" to Ohio Nobel laureate Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye" could be considered obscene.
Does this bill mean that teenagers must get special permission to read Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) or The Catcher in the Rye (1951)?