The state of Minnesota has officially made book bans illegal after Democratic Governor Tim Walz signed a bill that prohibits the banning of books from public libraries based on content, opinions, or subject matter. This ban on book bans comes as Republican-controlled states continue to remove books from school and public libraries because they disagree with the subject matter, depriving people of access to alternative viewpoints. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains what’s happening.
Transcript:
*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.
Believe it or not, I actually get to talk about something good that happened recently. Now, it’s not often that I actually get to sit here and say, hey, a good thing happened. Usually it’s horrible things or funny things that are also slightly horrible. But this time, nope, folks, good news. The state of Minnesota, after Democratic governor Tim Walz signed a piece of legislation, the State of Minnesota has now officially banned book bans in their state. It is now illegal in the state of Minnesota to remove books based solely on the viewpoint, content, message, idea, or opinion conveyed in that book.
This is groundbreaking legislation, at a time when red states and red counties across the country are banning books, banning books, banning books. I mean, hell listen to this. There were 4,349 instances of book bans in the first half of the 2023-2024 school year. So this past school year, 4,349 instances of book bans, more than all of previous school year combined. The bans have occurred in 42 states across red and blue districts with the majority targeting books with L-G-B-T-Q content. So while everybody else is trying to ban books, Minnesota said, we’re gonna ban book bans. We’re gonna not make books illegal. We’re gonna make making books illegal, illegal. So a hundred percent kudos. Nothing but respect for the state of Minnesota for doing this.
And I do think it’s interesting because it said we’ve got book bans in blue districts. Those book bans in blue districts are not taking place at the hands of the Democrats. The bans are a Republican thing. You cannot try to both sides that crap. We know which side is trying to ban books and it sure isn’t the Democratic party, but it’s the Republicans because they can’t stand dissenting viewpoints. They can’t stand people that are not white, rich, heterosexual people. If you have a book about immigrants, well, let’s ban it. I know that because it happened in Florida. A book about migrants. Okay. Nothing controversial. It wasn’t even political, banned. And I know that, by the way, from personal experience, caused a hell of a lot of turmoil for my family because my wife, of course, is an educator.
And that was a book that’s been in her curriculum for years. But a lot of it, most of it is L-G-B-T-Q content. So God forbid a young person who is coming to terms with their own sexuality and has nobody in their peer group that can commiserate with them, don’t let them commiserate with a character in a book. Don’t let them feel normal because they finally found this book character that has shared life experiences. No, ban the book and make that child feel even more like an outcast. That is what these red states are doing and Minnesota stood up, stood up to the Republicans, stood up to the rest of the country and said, we’re gonna show you how it’s done. And that is something that should be celebrated.
