Censorship, Pronouns, and Beer, Oh My!
Knowing I write a weekly column, a dear friend asked that I take a look at Arkansas Senate Bill 184—the bill “To Transfer the Powers and Duties of the Arkansas Educational Television Commission and the State Library Board to the Department of Education.” I’d heard about this issue weeks ago but put it on the back burner for fear my head would explode if I examined it closely.
But out of respect for my friend, I did some research.
I read news stories about the bill, looked up the bill itself and even watched a video of the senate session wherein the honorable Dan Sullivan, senator from Jonesboro and sponsor of the bill, presented his quest. I think my friend ought to take me out for a beer for my efforts.
And while we’re drinking our drafts, I’ll explain to my friend that it all makes sense to me. We require Arkansas teachers to rewrite history (“Slavery wasn’t so terrible—the enslaved learned marketable skills”), so why would we allow public broadcasting and public libraries free rein with reality?
But let me take a stab at reality before it’s disallowed:
While pronouncing the pitfalls of the American Library Association, Senator Sullivan adamantly declared to his colleagues, “The ALA supports affirmative—uh—gender affirming care.” And “They support pronouns!” He then summarized, “They support much [sic] of the things that we voted against as a state.”
I’ve been an active registered voter in Arkansas for nearly two decades. I honestly don’t remember a ballot issue addressing pronouns. But as a writer, I feel certain I would have voted in favor of them. I use pronouns all the time!
Then Sullivan really struck a nerve. He read an email exchange lifted from the accounts of library association personnel: “People don’t call me the Larry Flynt of the Hot Springs Library for nothing,” he read.
He paused to ensure his fellow senators associated the name Larry Flynt with Hustler magazine, then continued with the reply email: “Are y’all peddling porn in Hot Springs to kids?”
Sullivan clearly failed to see the humor in the exchange. He admitted to not knowing the context of these messages but determined it couldn’t be good. This was the denouement of his argument—his proof that the library board was distinctly out of line. The cure, he claimed, is to put the Department of Education in charge.
Larry Flynt was not a man I would seek as a dinner companion, and I certainly had no use for his infamous porn rag. But I’ve regarded him as a hero, nonetheless. In 1983, he was sued for publishing a parody of Reverend Jerry Falwell. He battled in court until he ultimately—in 1988— secured First Amendment protection of speech that’s critical of public officials and public figures. I cherish my right to free speech—perhaps above all others.
It’s because of Flynt’s case, Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell, that I can write this column. I can make disparaging remarks about our governor, or the senator from Jonesboro. That court’s 8-0 decision protects my right to poke fun at the people in charge. Without the right to publicly denounce those in power, we can kiss democracy good-bye.
Now our right to free speech has come under attack. AR SB 184 is a duplicitous stride toward shushing the public. As of this writing, AR SB 184 has passed in the Senate, and advanced to the House. I urge you to contact your representatives. Tell them a governmental department that can’t even admit that slavery was wrong should never be the gatekeeper for information that comes to us through libraries and public broadcasting.