(LifeSiteNews) — Texas has become the latest in a slew of states rejecting the left-wing propaganda of the American Library Association (ALA) and cutting ties with the national organization.
Rep. Brian Harrison, who demanded his state leave the organization last month over concerns that its president is a self-proclaimed “Marxist lesbian,” announced Thursday that the Texas State Library & Archives Commission had decided to cut ties with the ALA. The Republican lawmaker celebrated the development as a “huge win.”
The ALA has been under fire for the past several years due to its efforts to bow to woke ideologies, including drag queen story hours, tips on how to “sneak” LGBT materials to kids without parental knowledge, and publicly endorsing and participating in initiatives to promote LGBT books in school libraries.
While the top U.S. library organization continues down the path of left-wing agendas, some states have recognized the dangerous potential of these ideologies being passed along to their children. Before Texas’ exit from the group, several states voiced opposition to the concerning Marxist influence leading the ALA, including Idaho, Mississippi, Montana and Wyoming.
“Less than one month after I requested the Texas State Library and Archives Commission to cut ties with the American Library Association, I am excited to report that they just informed me they will not renew their contract with them!” Harrison said.
🚨BREAKING: Texas State Library & Archives Commission just informed me they will leave the American Library Association!
I asked them last month to cut ties after electing a radical socialist and self-described “Marxist lesbian” as President.
Huge win! Full Statement👇#txlege pic.twitter.com/OLGsyWFMuj
— Brian Harrison (@brianeharrison) August 17, 2023
“This is a win for all Texans, and I applaud the courageous and decisive decision by Chairwoman Martha Wong. Texas should be leading the fight against dangerous Marxist ideology — not subsidizing it with my constituents’ hard earned tax dollars. I’ll continue fighting to protect Texans from having their money weaponized against them, their values, and their children.”
The move comes nearly a month after Harrison wrote to Wong requesting that the state committee abandon its connection with the ALA, which recently hired Emily Drabinski to be president, “a self-proclaimed ‘Marxist lesbian’ and member of the Democrat Socialists of America.”
“Taxpayer funded indoctrination has no place in Texas, yet Ms. Drabinski has promised to radicalize the ALA to ‘advance a public agenda that puts organizing for justice at the center of library work,’” Harrison wrote in his July 20 letter to Wong. “In 2013, she published a paper entitled, ‘Queering the Catalog: Queer Theory and the Politics of Correction,’ where she explicitly opposes library neutrality in favor of forcing librarians to become ‘politically engaged’ from a ‘queer perspective.’”
🚨 Today I asked the Texas State Library and Archives Commission to immediately cut ties with the American Library Association after they elected a socialist and self-described “Marxist lesbian” as President.
Texas should fight Marxist ideology, not subsidize it.#txlege #txed pic.twitter.com/XFPjpWkdMl
— Brian Harrison (@brianeharrison) July 20, 2023
Harrison emphasized that the ALA undermines parental rights by fighting to have pornographic books on library shelves, arguing that “no one has the right to make rules restricting what other people use.” The lawmaker said that this mindset “means the ALA may be undermining Texas statutes designed to protect children.”
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