ATLANTA — Several Georgia Senate Republican leaders are backing legislation that would criminalize school librarians who let students check out books found to be obscene.
State law currently shields the gatekeepers at public libraries — plus those at any school, college or university — from criminal prosecution for sharing materials considered irredeemably sexually explicit. Senate Bill 154 by Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Alpharetta, would remove school librarians from that exemption, exposing them to a misdemeanor “of a high and aggravated nature.”
Dolezal could not be reached for comment Wednesday. But Cindy Martin, co-plaintiff in a successful federal lawsuit against Forsyth County Schools over free speech connected with books in libraries there, said she’s been emailing him about this issue since last year.
