Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) went viral on Tuesday for reading from explicit books during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing entitled “Book Bans: Examining How Censorship Limits Liberty and Literature.”
Kennedy read explicit passages from the books “All Boys Aren’t Blue” and “Gender Queer,” which have been banned in certain libraries.
Kennedy read the passages and grilled Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias (D); “What are you asking us to do?” Kennedy asked Giannoulias.
Transcript excerpt below —it gets tense:
KENNEDY: What are you advocating for?
GIANNOULIAS: We are advocating for parents, random parents not to have the ability under the guise of keeping kids safe, to try and challenge the worldview of every single manner on these issues.
KENNEDY: You’re getting conceptual again.
GIANNOULIAS: I’m not going to conceptual…
KENNEDY: Yes, you are, because… I want to know what you’re recommending. It sounds to me like what some of you are saying: The librarians should decide who gets to see that book.
Watch the exchange above: GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING.
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