Bans Against Book Bans: State Legislation Fighting Against Censorship

This research evaluates three of the eight states that passed legislation in 2023 and 2024 to limit the ability to ban books in their states. Using three states as case studies and analyzing the bill documents and news articles covering the legislation, I evaluated the conversations occurring in our local governments about book banning in the US. While many of these bills argue that book bans should not exist solely based on “partisan or doctrinal beliefs,” the issue is intrinsically tied to those beliefs. Democrats struggle to protect diverse voices of BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities; Republicans fight to remove sexually explicit and age-inappropriate material from schools and keep local control over library materials. Local and school libraries and librarians, whose livelihoods are being weaponized for each side's gain, are caught in the middle of this debate as their funding and legal protections are being legislated.