N.J. could require libraries and schools to ban book bans or face penalty

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"Gender Queer: A Memoir," by Maia Kobabe, is one of the banned and challenged books on display during Banned Books Week 2022 at the Lincoln Belmont branch of the Chicago Public Library.TNS

New Jersey could become one of the first U.S. states to effectively ban public libraries and schools from enacting book bans, with those who don’t follow risking a financially penalty, under a proposed law Democratic state legislators just introduced as battles over censorship rage across the country.

The legislation (S3907) aims to “prohibit” libraries and local school boards in the Garden State from “banning or restricting access to certain books“ and other resources because of “partisan or doctrinal disapproval” by having them adopt policies opposing it.


      

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