ST. CHARLES COUNTY — Parents in St. Charles County are urging the library board to ban two books that they say are too sexually explicit for public libraries.
One of the books — “It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, Gender and Sexual Health” — was on a display at one of the library’s 12 branches, and the other — “Bang Like a Porn Star: Sex Tips From the Pros” — was found in a library’s adult section.
“It’s Perfectly Normal,” published in 1994 and updated several times since, is a children’s book that explains puberty and sex among other issues. It is one of the most banned books nationwide but has also been hailed by pediatricians, biologists and educators for presenting “scientifically valid information.”
“Bang Like a Porn Star,” a 175-page book published in 2018, features interviews with several gay adult film stars and includes photographs detailing various sex acts.
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“I would like to know who ordered (‘Bang Like a Porn Star’), who approved the ordering of this book and the person who put this book into circulation because they should all be fired,” said Rachel Homolak, who was one of several residents to urge the library to remove the books at Tuesday’s St. Charles County-City Library Board meeting.
Tuesday’s meeting marked the latest instance of St. Charles County — and especially its library system — being at the center of culture war controversies in recent months. Patrons, largely led by Homolak, have complained about the attire of a library employee they say was wearing nail polish, makeup and a goatee; they have called for an implementation of a gender-neutral dress code for library employees; and they have urged the library to disaffiliate from the Urban Library Council because they say the group has a liberal bias.
Those calls have largely been ignored or dismissed by library officials.
On Tuesday, Homolak made photocopies of several of the photos of naked men in “Bang Like a Porn Star” and displayed them she addressed the library board. She later tossed the photocopies at the feet of Jason Kuhl, the library system’s CEO.
Homolak said she discovered the book was in the library system by searching the word “porn” in the library’s catalogue.
The other book, “It’s Perfectly Normal,” includes illustrations that depict both heterosexual and homosexual couples having sex. That book was spotted earlier this year by Theresa Lintzenich, a St. Charles resident who also spoke at Tuesday’s meeting.
“This book does not talk about the sacredness of sex,” Lintzenich said.
Several other speakers denounced the library board for failing to heed the calls of conservatives in St. Charles County. One speaker told the board they needed to “make up their mind because you either fall in line with us or you are going to be run out because we aren’t accepting this.”
Book banning has become a resurgent topic in cities across the U.S. as largely conservative groups complained that children are being exposed to sexually explicit material in schools and public libraries.
Grayson Jostes, the only person to speak Tuesday in favor of the books remaining in the library’s collection, said, “It is not the library’s fault that these books exist or that they have them in the library. It is the parent’s responsibility to decide what it is acceptable for their child to read, not for them to decide what every child should or should not read.”
Kuhl said the library system owns only one copy of the “Bang Like a Pornstar” book, which was on the shelves at the Kisker Road Branch. The library system has seven copies of the “It’s Perfectly Normal,” according to online records.
“We have nearly a million items in the collection. We get tens of thousands of new items every year. It is certainly possible that something could get miscategorized,” Kuhl said.
The library system has a formal process for challenging content at any of its branches, but neither of the books at the center of Tuesday’s meetings have been challenged.
“They really need to file the formal challenge, which is the procedure we have in place for instances like this,” Kuhl said after the meeting.
Homolak said after the meeting that she hasn’t filed a challenge because she doesn’t trust the process.
“I am in a chokehold here because the people who would vote on whether or not to remove these obscene books are all already against me,” she said.
The three-page challenge form asks the complainant about 10 questions and can be turned in to the library administration. The library system then forms a committee of staff members to read the book and provide a written response to the person who filed the challenge.
If the patron is dissatisfied with the committee’s decision, they can appeal to the library’s board of trustees, Kuhl said.
In other business, the library board voted Tuesday on its officers for the upcoming year.
Staci Alvarez was reelected as president; TJ Rains was reelected as vice president; Justin Collier will serve as secretary; and Josiah Schmidt will serve as treasurer.
Conservative activists like Homolak have argued for months for that the board should be overhauled and include representatives from all of the major cities in St. Charles County.
But three of the four officers elected on Tuesday are from the city of St. Charles.
“This honestly makes me very upset,” Homolak said. “(County Executive) Steve Ehlmann and (St. Charles Mayor) Dan Borgmeyer were each given at least 30 applications from people who want to be on this board. They completely ignored them.”
Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the content of the book “Bang Like a Porn Star” and Rachel Homolak's complaints about a library employee; she has not called for the employee's dismissal.