Illinois Gov. Pritzker signs anti-book ban bill; blasts DeSantis, Republicans' 'extreme views' on sexually explicit materials

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker (D) signed a law Monday that will withhold state funding from public and school libraries that remove books from shelves, the Center Square reported.

"Here in Illinois, we don't hide from the truth, we embrace it," Gov. Prizker said in a statement Monday.

"Young people shouldn't be kept from learning about the realities of our world; I want them to become critical thinkers, exposed to ideas that they disagree with, proud of what our nation has overcome, and thoughtful about what comes next."

House Bill 2789 will take effect January 1, 2024.

"Governor Pritzker keeps taking more and more steps to extinguish parental rights," Laura Hois, co-chair of Awake Illinois' Downers Grove Chapter, told WLS-TV.

The first-of-its-kind legislation will render public libraries ineligible for public funding if they restrict or ban materials for "partisan or doctrinal" reasons.

Specifically, in order to receive state funding, the bill requires libraries to adopt the American Library Association's Library Bill of Rights. Alternatively, libraries may "develop a written statement declaring the inherent authority of the library or library system to provide an adequate collection of books and other materials ... and prohibit the practice of banning specific books or resources."

"Libraries should provide materials and information presenting all points of view on current and historical issues. Materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval," according to Section II of the ALA's LBOR.

An official press release covering Pritzker's signing of the bill took aim at Republicans in general and Florida's Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican presidential contender, specifically.

The Illinois governor claimed "extremists" have recently been "targeting literature, libraries and books in an effort to censor material students need to thrive in the classroom."

Those materials required to thrive, according to the press release, include stories by and about the LGBTQ+ community.

TheBlaze has extensively covered parents' and legislators' efforts to protect children from sexually explicit, age-inappropriate and pornographic material, some of which falls into the LGBTQ+ category.

According to the release, Pritzker demanded that the CEO of the College Board "reverse the decision to remove crucial parts of the curriculum from the Advanced Placement course in African American Studies after pressure to do so from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis."

In addition, Pritzker and other governors urged that major textbook publishers "not censor educational materials in the face of additional pressure from Republicans."

California's Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) threatened to "expose" textbook publishers "colluding" with Florida, as TheBlaze reported on May 21.

"There are few perils to our democracy as dangerous as book bans. They threaten the very freedom of thought and speech that underpin our republic," said Illinois Federation of Teachers President Dan Montgomery, whose union supports the bill.

Watch coverage from WLS-TV below of Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) signing legislation outlawing book bans in the Prairie State.

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