Alabama Public Library Service votes to create a list of inappropriate books for kids

The Alabama Public Library Service will issue a list of books that it considers inappropriate for children.

Its seven-member board voted unanimously Wednesday in favor of the proposal to create such a list with the goal of protecting kids.

“Parents still have access to it if they want to buy this for their children,” John Wahl, a board member and the chairman of the Alabama Republican Party, told WSFA-TV, a local NBC affiliate in Montgomery. “But we don’t want to have it in libraries where innocent children can stumble upon it.”

While the list has not yet been created, the move comes amid a nationwide debate over whether children should have access to books and coursework that contain topics on LGBTQ identities or race.

Ryan Godfrey, a spokesperson for the Alabama Public Library Service, said in a phone call that the board decided to create the list after an uptick in complaints about sexually explicit content in library books over the last several months. Hey noted that some of the titles being challenged have LGBTQ themes.