Crowe says children's book threatens federal funds

NASHVILLE — State Sen. Rusty Crowe, R-Johnson City, expressed concern over the content of children's books in the Johnson City Public Library, including one titled "Fred Gets Dressed." The book depicts a young boy who "romps through the house naked and wild and free" and dresses in his mother's clothes. In an email sent to the library last week, Crowe said a group of his constituents reviewed the JCPL collection and found "well over" 100 books that contained or referenced materials they deemed inappropriate for children. Crowe said he was "concerned" that the library had not already addressed "Fred Gets Dressed" as a book that could jeopardize federal funding across the state. The book is currently on the shelves of the Johnson City Public Library; Jonesborough Public Library; and both branches of the Bristol Public Library. "It seems that our libraries are intent on purposely providing materials to our youth that would seem to normalize gender ideology," Crowe said. In comments made to Six Rivers Media, Johnson City Public Library Director Julia Turpin responded to Crowe's concerns. "I would ask [Crowe] to look at our policy, come talk to some family members who are using the library regularly," Turpin said. "I think that it's important for him to understand that we're not just taking a publisher-recommended item with a good review and throwing it on the shelf. We're independently evaluating all of these materials as part of our collection." Crowe's email follows from a state directive requiring all regional libraries to review their children's sections for "age-appropriateness." In October, Secretary of State Tre Hargett sent letters to the directors of more than 180 libraries across the state's Regional Library System, requiring each one to complete a review by Jan. 19. His letters also referenced "Fred Gets Dressed" as a potentially problematic book. 19 libraries in Northeast Tennessee — not including school and University libraries — will be subject to the reviews. "We've heard from a lot of counties that they're concerned about inappropriate materials being in the library," Hargett said. "And so, I think this is just an opportunity for every library to be able to say, 'We've conducted our review, we've reported on our review,' so that the local community can know that they've done that." Turpin said there are over 38,000 books in the JCPL children's section — making the review a tall task. "In any given month, we've got 40,000 books a month checking in and out across the whole library," Turpin said. "So, it's a big project." The library is currently in the beginning stages of the review but is awaiting further direction from the state on how to proceed. That's because the Secretary of State asked libraries to consider one of President Donald Trump's executive orders as a basis for their reviews. A brief, two-sentence subsection in the executive order prevents federal funds from being used to "promote gender ideology." However, it is unclear exactly what kind of information constitutes promoting gender ideology. "As far as really clear details about how they want us to do this, we just don't have them," Turpin said. "So, when we get to that point, we'll do the report and get it all taken care of, but we're kind of not there yet." The decision of how to handle the books deemed inappropriate will be left up to the libraries' boards of directors. "We really value local control. We want those decisions to be made locally," Hargett said. That means some books could be simply moved to different sections of the library, while others could be removed altogether. But ultimately, the choice will be left to the library's discretion. Both Crowe and Hargett warned that any library carrying a book promoting gender ideology could jeopardize federal funding for the entire state. Currently, Tennessee's regional library system receives about $3.6 million from the federal government. States such as Washington, California and Connecticut have all had federal funding revoked for materials deemed to promote gender ideology. Eventually, each state had their funding reinstated, according to Hargett. When asked why his office waited until October to begin complying with an executive order issued in January, Hargett said: "We sent it when we decided to send it. We didn't sit and hold it, we didn't wait around to send it. I mean, it was just when we sent it." Crowe drew a line between what kinds of books he believes belong in libraries' children's sections. "I certainly want our juveniles and children to have access to a wide variety of entertaining, wholesome, educational, and value-oriented materials," Crowe said. "However, I remain very concerned that our public libraries would even consider providing materials in our juvenile and children's sections related to issues and topics like gender ideology."