(stock image via Depositphotos)A prosecutor in Lapeer County, Michigan, has threatened to file charges against employees or officials of the Lapeer District Library if the LGBTQ-themed illustrated novel Gender Queer: A Memoir isn’t removed from the shelves.
Lapeer County Prosecutor John Miller is trying to use a state law which bars enticing a minor to submit to an act of “gross indecency” – against a book.
Kudos to Amy Churchill, the director of Lapeer District Library, for standing up to intimidation tactics by the local prosecutor to try to force the library to remove an LGBTQ book https://t.co/xlaAzfPJge via @BridgeMichigan
— Kathleen Folger (@kfolger) March 14, 2023
Via Bridge Michigan:
Miller told Bridge Michigan on Monday the illustrations in the book “Gender Queer: A Memoir” could rise to the level of accosting, enticing or soliciting a child for immoral purpose, a felony punishable by up to four years in prison.
The book, an LGBTQ-themed graphic novel with illustrations of sex acts, has caused controversy in libraries in Michigan and across the country, and Miller’s threat follows a controversy over the book that has brewed since fall in this rural county in Michigan’s Thumb.
Miller cited the specific criminal code — 750.145a — he believed the book’s presence in a public library could violate.
The law is often associated with police sting operations of adults who prey on minors, barring enticing anyone under 16 “to commit an immoral act, to submit to an act of sexual intercourse or an act of gross indecency or to any other act of depravity or delinquency.”
Amy Churchill, director of the library, said Miller hasn’t reached out to her directly. “I am not hard to find,” she told Bridge Michigan. “If Mr. Miller wishes to arrest me, I am in my office working for the patrons and staff of the Lapeer District Library Monday through Friday.”
Related: Education Dept. Investigating Removal Of LGBTQ-Themed Books
Gender Queer: A Memoir, was the most banned book in school libraries in 2022, according to PEN America, a group that advocates for writers, and the most challenged book by the American Library Association.
It’s worth noting that while Miller says, “This isn’t about LGBTQ, this is about the exploitation of children,” Churchill points to the fact that books like The Joy of Sex (which depicts sex acts between heterosexual couples) is also on her library shelves. And there have apparently been no objections to those books.
Read the full report at Bridge Michigan.
They legislate what books people can read under the guise of “protecting children”. But yet there isn’t one piece of legislation to actually protect children from being raped by church leaders. This isn’t about protecting children it’s about trying to erase and demonize LGBTQ+
— Odd MorBo (@OddMorBo) March 14, 2023