BISMARCK – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) joined U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Mike Braun (R-IN) in writing a letter to the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) demanding an investigation into the American Library Association’s (ALA) active religious discrimination against Brave Books, a Christian children’s book publisher.

As part of their Library 2023 Worldwide Virtual Conference, ALA gave guidance on how to prevent individuals from holding events organized by religious publishers, such as Brave Books, in public libraries. ALA claims Brave Books seeks to “censor LGBTQIA materials or disparage or silence LGBTQIA library users and exploit the open nature of the library to advance their agenda.”

“To the contrary, the ALA is advancing a political agenda, not Brave Books. Further, the ALA is doing so while receiving federal funds and actively promoting hotly contested events in public libraries, including “Drag Queen Story Hours” – events aimed at having scantily and/or exotically clothed adults read to children with the goal of introducing them to sexualized topics. The ALA has an entire page dedicated to “Drag Queen Story Hour,” which includes a program session labeled “Reading Fabulously,” wrote the senators.

“Over the course of several decades, the ALA has received millions of dollars in taxpayer dollars. Ironically, the ALA has been given federal funds for “free community engagement training.” As a recipient of federal funds, the ALA is prohibited from using taxpayer dollars to violate the First Amendment. However, it appears the ALA is ignoring this prohibition for the sole purpose of silencing Brave Books while simultaneously also advocating for “Drag Queen Story Hour,” wrote the senators.

The Senators said public libraries must remain open to the public, and their availability should not be subject to the political whims of the ALA. They also demand all current funds, and considerations for all future federal funds, be immediately halted until the investigation into ALA’s conduct has finished.

“While disagreements pertaining to “Drag Queen Story Hour” in public libraries will assuredly continue, Brave Books deserves the same opportunity to host and organize events in public libraries as other groups, including those that the ALA has taken an aggressive role promoting,” wrote the senators. “The ALA should not be eligible to receive federal funding should an investigation find that the ALA violated the First Amendment rights of Americans.”

Click here to read the full letter.