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Amy Dozier Minton has challenged at least 30 titles at the Gadsden Public Library due to LGBTQ characters, and she plans to challenge more.
State Rep. Mack Butler, R-Gadsden, recently appointed Minton to the Etowah County Library Committee that provides a comparatively small revenue to the Gadsden library, which she has previously stated she would withhold if the library continued to keep such books in children’s and young adult sections.
The funding source isn’t comparatively minor any more—she is now one of the board members holding the purse strings for state aid for libraries across Alabama.
Gov. Kay Ivey recently appointed Minton to the Alabama Public Library Service board in an apparent move toward stacking the board with people who agree with the recent crusades against LGBTQ content in books aimed at teens and younger.
It’s not the only move Ivey has made to reshape the board–she also removed long-serving member Virginia Doyle in apparent retaliation for Doyle’s criticism of lawmakers for threatening state funding.
Doyle’s premonition then: “It appears they’re trying to get the third vacancy so they can control the board—they’ve already got John Wahl in their corner.”
APR spoke with Minton in December about her appointment to the Etowah County Library Committee, and her book challenging campaign in Gadsden.
Although Minton and the Etowah County GOP have declared issues with sexual content in books in sections for minors, Minton didn’t shy away from opposing gender ideology in such books.
“These books only confuse kids,” Minton told APR then. “Some kids want to be a pirate, but do we let them poke out their eye or cut off their leg? I don’t think children are ready to be exposed to that type of content.”
In her challenge forms, Minton conflates transgender, gender nonconformity, bisexual issues and more as sexualizing children.
While Minton told AL.com that she is not affiliated with Clean Up Alabama, Moms for Liberty or Eagle Forum, her book challenges closely align with the campaigns by those groups across the state.
Minton has also vowed to entirely separate the APLS from the American Library Association, stating that the agency’s decision last week not to renew its ALA membership is not far enough. Clean Up Alabama Executive Director Hannah Rees had the same message following the meeting.
Similar to APLS board member–and ALGOP chair–John Wahl, Minton cites Marxist influences and indoctrination creeping into libraries. Sitting ALA President Emily Drabinski celebrated her election by tweeting about her Marxist beliefs and her identity as a lesbian.
Read Freely Alabama has raised concern about Minton’s appointment.
“She wants public institutions to ignore the rights of all Alabama parents and to require that libraries, at the direction of the state government, make decisions for parents about what reading materials are appropriate for their children,” the group said in a statement. “Minton does not have the library experience, wisdom, or unbiased judgment that is needed to serve APLS. This appointment elevates the beliefs and preferences of a small minority of taxpayers at the detriment of others, and is a travesty and a threat to the rights of all Alabama parents and families. We urge the governor to rescind this appointment in favor of a qualified and neutral candidate who is committed to upholding the principles of constitutional librarianship for the benefit of all Alabamians.”
The APLS is currently in a public comment period on Ivey’s proposed changes to its administrative code. The new code language would require libraries to file policies on how it handles material deemed age-inappropriate.
