The state board governing Alabama libraries plans to amend its administrative code to add language effectively prohibiting descriptions of “transgender procedures” or “the concept of more than two biological genders” in material for children and youth.
Members of the Alabama Public Library Service Board on Thursday voted to open a public comment period on the proposal from board member Amy Minton. It came one day after Chair John Wahl said he would prohibit libraries from circulating materials related to the undefined idea.
“Last time, we did have a public hearing, we had 6,750 letters, six hours of comment, from a lot of pediatricians, a public hearing, before we passed the last code, so I think it is important,” Minton said during the meeting.
The board revised its code last year to require libraries to restrict children from having access to materials considered sexually explicit or inappropriate.
Wahl said during Thursday’s meeting he was uncomfortable having board members voting to define gender ideology and said modifying the code would be the best approach.
Minton would add language that says “any material that promotes, engages or positively depicts transgender procedures, gender ideology or the concept of more than two biological genders, shall be considered inappropriate for children and youth.”
The recommended change would prevent libraries from receiving state funding if children and youth sections in their libraries contain materials, books or otherwise, that fall under the language.
Wahl’s Wednesday letter cited a January executive order issued by President Donald Trump that attacked gender ideology without defining it.
“Any federal grants that the APLS board distributes have to follow the rules found in that executive order,” Wahl said in an interview after the meeting. “It talked about the federal executive order. If you are getting federal grants, that money cannot be used to promote gender ideology. It was informing local libraries about what is happening at the federal level, and that the grants that we administer in 2026 are going to have these requirements tied to them.”
Wahl’s letter addressed federal grant money. Minton’s request deals with funding allocated by the state, a sum greater than what libraries would receive from the federal government.
Pelham Public Library Director Mary Campbell, director of the Pelham Public Library, characterized Wahl’s letter as a misunderstanding.
“The misunderstanding there is that we should be going back into our collections,” she said in an interview following the meeting. “The implication that we should remove anything about gender ideology in order to be eligible for federal funds is not, to my understanding, true. What it would mean is if we applied for federal funds, and we received them, those funds could not be used to purchase gender ideology books, or to have programs or anything like that.”
The library directors said the grants they received for the current fiscal year are not tied to gender ideology.
“We have used them a lot for technology, to replace computers as they age out,” Campbell said.
Wahl and other members Thursday delayed a decision on whether to resume state funding that they suspended for the Fairhope Public Library in March after some patrons complained that it continued to have inappropriate materials in sections dedicated to minors.
Wahl said the board will hold off on deciding until the library board for Fairhope completes its review of the books that have been challenged.
Randal Wright, chair of the governing board of Fairhope Public Library, said it has one book left before completing the review. Board members have reviewed 13 of the 14 books that were challenged and moved five to the adult’s section.
“Our feeling is, in our community, the books that we have read cannot be considered sexually explicit,” Wright said in an interview following the meeting. “They might have a paragraph, or two or three sentences, that are sexual, but it is not written to arouse or titillate.”
Read more at AlabamaReflector.com.