An Open Letter to Moms for Liberty
The definition of liberty is as follows — ‘the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by one authority on another’s way of life, behavior, or political views’.
That includes telling people what they or their children can or cannot read. Your book banning agenda is literally going against the definition of liberty. While I acknowledge that you have the right to tell your own children what they can or cannot read, you do not have the same right where it concerns children who are not yours. Your idea that if a child reads a book that is contrary to your own belief system, it will change them. An example you’re fond of quoting is a child reading about a gay or trans person. It’s disturbing, you say, disgusting you say. I disagree.
The real world does not exist in Mayberry with Sheriff Andy and Opie. Reading a book that includes a gay or trans character may spark actual understanding in the reader. I was fortunate to grow up in a home where books were plentiful, and no restrictions were placed on what I read. At the age of eleven I was reading Shakespeare. If I didn’t understand something my mother explained it to me. I read the classics. I read To Kill a Mockingbird, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, The Bluest Eye, and The Handmaid’s Tale all before my fifteenth birthday.
I read books with topics such as birth control, abortion, choice, and people who chose a different lifestyle and gender. I learned about various lifestyles and felt deeply for the characters. Let me state here that I’m an adult heterosexual wife and mother. What I read in those books didn’t make me become someone other than I already was. I didn’t become a whore; I didn’t want to change my gender. No, what those books did for me was spark a compassion for, and acceptance of, the characters in the books leading to the same feeling and respect for all people.
The women in Moms for Liberty aren’t for liberty at all. What you are espousing is tyranny, unreasonable and arbitrary use of power or control. Liberty is freedom, liberty is the right to live life based on personal choice. If you want to take away that freedom of choice, the word ‘liberty’ may not be the best word for your misguided group. Try Moms for Control.
As I wrote at the beginning of this article, you have the parental right to restrict your child from reading any book you choose. However, your rights of restrictive reading and book banning stop at my doorstep and the doorsteps of anyone who chooses to read what they want, have their children read what they want, and live their lives with freedom from oppressive groups such as Moms for Liberty.
© 2024 copyright Kristen Houghton all rights reserved
