Public libraries are at the frontlines of the culture war, with each side crying censorship. The left is decrying right-wing book bans, and the right says libraries are run by progressive librarians hell-bent on limiting access to Christian books and events, while subjecting children to inappropriate sexual content.

The truth, though, is somewhere in between: The days of the politically neutral public library are long gone and the battles over books and use of library space is a political proxy war. Who wins?

Last month, Montana became the first state to cut ties with the American Library Association, the oldest and largest library trade association, after the group’s new leader identified herself as a “Marxist lesbian” in a since-deleted social media post. 

A librarian at the City University of New York, Emily Drabinski, was elected president of the American Library Association last year, but didn’t take office until July.  

“I just cannot believe that a Marxist lesbian who believes that collective power is possible to build and can be wielded for a better world is the president-elect of @ALALibrary,” Ms. Drabinski had tweeted. “Solidarity!”

Republican lawmakers in several other states are now pushing to sever their state’s relationship with the ALA as well. It’s not just Ms. Drabinski’s self-proclaimed “Marxist lesbian” identity they take umbrage with, but also the so-called “woke” ideological posture of the association and what conservatives see as a progressive takeover of libraries. The conflict has been playing out all year with fights over Pride book displays and drag queen story hours.

The ALA sees things differently. It identifies book bans and attacks on LGBTQ users as the real threats to libraries. A report released by the ALA finds that 2022 had “the highest number of attempted book bans since ALA began compiling data about censorship in libraries more than 20 years ago.” 

Four out of the five most “banned” books were LGBTQ-themed. Among these are Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye” and the coming-of-age graphic novel, “Gender Queer,” which features what the New York Times calls “drawings of nude characters and sexual scenarios.”

The ALA report doesn’t say the bans are coming from the right, though the implication is as clear as their emphatic support for “drag queen story hour,” for which they dedicate an entire page on their website. There’s no ambiguity in the association’s ideological bent.

Now, a Christian book publisher, Brave Books, and “Growing Pains” star and Christian children’s book author, Kirk Cameron, are claiming censorship from the opposite direction: for their religious views. Mr. Cameron told Fox News he tried to host a library reading of his new Christian children’s book, “As You Grow,” and “was denied by over 50 ‘woke’ libraries that have hosted drag queen story hours.”

Mr. Cameron and Brave Books, with help from the religious liberty law firm, First Liberty Institute, are challenging libraries that refuse to host their events and encouraging others to do the same. Mr. Cameron’s political bent is also plain as day.

On Saturday, Mr. Cameron organized a national “See you at the library” day, calling on Christian families across the country to reserve meeting room space and host events at their local libraries. Mr. Cameron’s August 5 event at an Alabama library was initially canceled and then allowed to proceed after his attorneys intervened. More than 300 people showed up, including some protesters.

“The ALA has been critical of book bans, but they don’t have to ban books if they can just ban authors instead,” a senior counsel at First Liberty Institute, Jeremy Dys, tells the Sun. “It took our sending a demand letter last week to get an Alabama library to reverse their decision to censor Kirk’s event at their library.” 

It turns out the ALA was also preparing for the August 5 event. In a video of an online ALA conference, released by Brave Books to the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, the head of the ALA’s “Office for Intellectual Freedom,” Deborah Caldwell-Stone, gives librarians advice for  how to keep Kirk Cameron and others who “disparage LGBTQ library users” — i.e. Christians — out of their libraries.

“The First Amendment does not require the library to even offer meeting room spaces, so in regard to the Kirk Cameron thing, you are not obligated to offer public meeting room spaces,” Ms. Caldwell-Stone says. “What if your library decided to offer a whole host of programs in its meeting rooms on August 5th, making it unavailable for the public. That’s another option for you.”

In response to the leaked video, Republican Senators Rubio, Cramer, and Braun sent a letter to the Institute of Museum and Library Services urging them to “immediately halt” all taxpayer funds to the ALA until an investigation into its political agenda and actions is completed.

“As a recipient of federal funds, the ALA is prohibited from using taxpayer dollars to violate the First Amendment. However, it appears the ALA is ignoring this prohibition for the sole purpose of silencing Brave Books while simultaneously also advocating for ‘Drag Queen Story Hour,’” the letter reads.

The American Library Association did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment.

While we should decry book bans and censorship of any kind, the so-called “banning” of books is driven by a small number of individuals mainly opposed to sexually explicit content for their children, especially books with LBGTQ and trans themes.

A study by the Washington Post found that 60 percent of all book challenges came from just 11 individuals. The books also aren’t banned in the traditional sense — they just may not be available for free at the local library. Not great, but unless done by the state, perhaps not worthy of moral panic.

The people who hold the real power over what books Americans can access at the library are the librarians themselves, who choose what books to order and display. Librarians also periodically take books out of circulation that no longer curry favor, like books by Mark Twain or Dr. Seuss for their language on race.

I recently tried to take out a copy of Friedrich Hayek’s “The Road to Serfdom” from my local library but they didn’t carry it. The section of “Trump is bad” books, though, was plentiful.