Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has signed a bill into law that effectively outlaws book bans in schools and public libraries, a response to right-wing challenges to library materials and classroom instruction surging across the country and threatening access to hundreds of titles, mostly involving LGBT+ people and honest discussions of race and racism.
“Here in Illinois, we don’t hide from the truth, we embrace it,” the Democratic governor said in a statement announcing his signature on the legislation, which his office hailed as a “nation-leading” response to censorship campaigns targeting schools and libraries.
