Iowa Man Burns Children’s Books From Public Library to Protest Orange City Pride

From the Des Moines Register:

The Orange City Public Library said it’s exploring legal options after a northwest Iowa man rented and then publicly burned several children’s books Friday.
The second annual OC Pride kicked off Friday with a story time for kids, a schedule shows. About an hour before the event, Paul Dorr started a live Facebook video, in which he stood near the Prairie Winds Event Center. The 27-minute video ends with Dorr throwing at least four books with LGBTQ themes that he claimed he rented from the public library into a burning trash can.
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“Frankly, I found it disgusting,” said Mark Stringer, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Iowa. “We are disturbed to see this.
“Burning books from a public library is a clear attempt to shut down the open sharing and discussion of ideas,” Stringer said. “It’s one person, or maybe a group, deciding that they’re the gatekeeper of ideas for the rest of the public.”

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More From the Sioux City Journal:

The video, which is more than 28 minutes long, consists mainly of Dorr talking about his displeasure with all things LGBTQ, as well as abortion and the sexual revolution of the 1970s, which he sees as a failing of his generation.
After nearly 25 minutes of speaking in the video, Dorr begins pulling out LGBTQ-themed books checked out from the Orange City Public Library and, after describing the problems he sees in them, throws them into a burning barrel sitting at his left.
“Orange City Library, you won’t be peddling this one anymore!” Dorr says in the video as he pitches an LGBTQ-themed children’s book into the flames. “You should all be ashamed of yourselves and repent.”
The books Dorr selected for burning, he said, were those he deemed the most egregious. He said he has not spoken to anyone from the Orange City Public Library, and that he will not be replacing the books nor paying for them.

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On a Related Note…Earlier the Orange City Public Library Was in the News…
See:  “Drive to Ban Library Books With LGBTQ Content Erupts In Orange City” (February 2018)

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