R.I. House passes ‘Freedom to Read Act' aimed at library ‘censorship'
Morales said the legislation is needed because Rhode Island has had 25 attempts to censor books since 2021. The targeted books often involve matters of race and the LGBTQ+ community, he said, citing examples such as '
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But Representative Brian C. Newberry, a North Smithfield Republican, contended that there are no 'banned' books in Rhode Island.
'Books being banned means they are illegal and you can't find them,' he said. 'Let's drop the conceit that because a particular town or a particular librarian or school district doesn't want it, a book is banned. It's absolute nonsense.'
Newberry said the original version of the bill was " terrible," but he said, 'You guys did a great job of basically gutting it, making it essentially pointless.' He said passage of the bill would 'take this issue off the table' and make advocates happy, but he said it would achieve nothing.
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Newberry introduced an amendment to 'remove the stupid the title of the bill.' He said 'Freedom to Read Act' name 'makes no sense' and 'is designed to gin up fear.' He proposed calling it the 'Collection Policy Act.'
Representative Tina L. Spears, a Charlestown Democrat, called for 'decorum,' saying Newberry shouldn't be throwing around words like 'stupid" in discussing the bill.
Morales objected to Newberry's amendment, and said, 'This legislation encompasses a lot more than just establishing of collection policy.' He said it would set up a process for reviewing challenges to books by people with 'a vested interest' in the community, as well as an appeals process.
Also, he noted it would allow an author whose library materials have been subjected to censorship to bring a court action against any government body that enforces censorship of library materials in violation of policies established under the bill.
'The freedom to read affirms our fundamental rights to access knowledge, stories, and ideas without the fear of censorship or discrimination,' Morales said. 'Unfortunately this freedom is under attack.'
Newberry's amendment failed by a vote of 11 to 63.
Representative Sherry Roberts, a West Greenwich Republican, said parents are opposed to books such as '
'I'd like to just say that, on behalf of the parents, that the passage of this bill would be helping to promote perversion and shameful and degenerate behavior,' she said.
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Representative Charlene M. Lima, a Cranston Democrat, said she had concerns about the bill. But she said Morales 'reassured me that these children would not be exposed to pornographic material. It would be age appropriate, and if there's something more questionable that the parents would have a way to refute the material and a process that they could go through.'
Representative Karen Alzate, a Pawtucket Democrat, backed the bill, and said it 'promotes learning about the world and cultures.'
'Go into the library and pick out a book that's going to teach me about your culture and my culture,' she said. 'It's going to teach you about all the oceans in the world, the rivers, and the mountains in other countries, I have strong support because reading takes us to places that are beyond our minds.'
Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at
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