Moms for Liberty's Watson: Fairhope Public Library, city council aware of sexually explicit material
Moms for Liberty Baldwin County founder Rebecca Watson has received death threats since presenting information to the Alabama Public Library Service (APLS) that led to the pausing of state funding to the Fairhope Public Library. Still, she is determined to continue fighting to protect children.
Fairhope Council President Jack Burrell said he believed the library was not given due process or a chance to respond to inappropriate material in the library's teen section.
However, Watson said the city council, including Burrell and the library, had numerous changes to make, but they didn't.
"They fully had access to the exact same information that I did," Watson told 1819 News. "All they had to review were the APLS policies and the Fairhope Library policies and state law, which has a definition that is very, very clear of what is sexually explicit material."
"So, when I am listening to Jack Burrell talk about 'This isn't America' and 'We didn't have our due process.' I don't know where he's been the last year and a half," Watson said.
For nearly two years, representatives of Moms for Liberty have presented concerns to the council and library board. Fairhope Mayor Sherry Sullivan said the pause in funding was due to a lack of understanding of what the APLS is looking for. Watson said the APLS rules are clear.
"What has been misunderstood is the lengths that our community will go to to protect our children," she said. "That has been the misunderstanding. I have two loyalties. One is to God, and one is to protect the kids."
Further, Watson said those who oppose Moms for Liberty have misunderstood the mission. She said the mission is not to ban books but to relocate those not following the APLS code from the juvenile sections to the adult section. Parents may still allow their children access to the adult sections of the library with a new card system.
After evidence was presented to the APLS board last week, only one board member voted against pausing state funding to the Fairhope Public Library. Watson said she presented 10 books herself. She was thankful for the APLS board's decision and said funding would resume as soon as the library was in compliance.
"These are people that understand our law, and they understand what sexually explicit material is," Watson said. "So, they should all be thanked and appreciated. And for one, we shouldn't have even had to go up there and ask for them to do what they had to do."
"It should have been taken care of nice and quiet in our little town, and we should have all just been able to continue on with our lives," Watson continued. "And because of the stance that the mayor and city council took, and the hard line that this library board drew, this is why we're here."
"It's not Moms for Liberty's fault," she added. "We need elected officials that can admit when they're wrong, can rectify a situation and can understand that they represent an entire city and not a small group of radicalized citizens that have not spent the time reading these books."