Ben Baker wouldn't want his daughters to attend a Drag Queen Story Hour at the local library — and as a parent, that's his prerogative. But if Baker has his way, other parents won't be able to make that choice for their own kids.

A member of the Missouri House of Representatives, Baker introduced a bill to prevent public libraries in his state from providing "age-inappropriate sexual material" to minors. Each library would be required to establish a parental review board that decides which materials and programs children can access, according to the legislation.

Library employees who don't toe the censorship committee's line could be convicted of a misdemeanor and thrown in jail for up to a year. The libraries themselves could be stripped of state funding.

"What inspired this bill is becoming aware of what is taking place at our publicly funded libraries with events like Drag Queen Story Hour, and materials that have a clear agenda of grooming our children for the LGBTQ community with adult themes and content that fit the description of a objectionable sexual nature," Baker told The New York Times.

Baker is positively obsessed with drag queens in libraries. Judging from his Twitter page, they're a greater threat to America's youth than gangs, drugs, gun violence and all other moral panics combined.

Organizers say the readings aren't sexually explicit. They're meant to show children that not everyone follows traditional gender roles and allow them to "imagine a world where people can present as they wish, where dress-up is real," according to the Drag Queen Story Hour website.

Some parents find that message positive and affirming, while others consider it immoral and destabilizing. Folks who oppose Drag Queen Story Hour can simply vote with their feet and visit the library when those events aren't scheduled. Baker would rather his parental review boards pass judgment for all — even if no members are actually parents of small children. Each panel established under his bill "shall be composed of five adult residents of the public library's geographical area."

Though the rules would only apply in Missouri, concern is spreading from coast to coast. Harebrained ideas have a way of crossing borders, and Baker serves as state chairman for the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative clearinghouse for boilerplate bills ready-made for replication.

"We support the right of families and individuals to choose materials from a diverse spectrum of ideas and beliefs," writes Deborah Caldwell-Stone of the American Library Association Office of Intellectual Freedom. "Public libraries already have procedures in place that assist parents in selecting materials that fit their family's information needs, while not censoring materials or infringing upon the rights of other families or patrons to choose the books they want and need."

The Missouri bill is on a collision course with the First Amendment. As government institutions, public libraries can't discriminate — rules for meeting in their facilities must be viewpoint-neutral. Even hate groups can reserve space at your local library. The ALA specifically includes them in its Library Bill of Rights.

Ben Baker is a religious man — a former Bible college professor, he serves on his church board and describes himself as a minister and missionary on his Missouri House webpage. It's mystifying that he doesn't see how his authoritarian fever dream could become a nightmare.

What happens when a parental library review board in a liberal enclave decides that the Bible contains "age-inappropriate sexual material"? Or declares that any church whose teachings condemn LGBTQ relationships as sinful is no longer welcome to hold children's events at the library?

Baker's biography says he's led mission trips to Africa. According to the nonprofit organization Voice of the Martyrs, there are countries on that continent where Bibles are outright illegal or are "dangerous and/or difficult" to obtain.

A Christian missionary is the last person on Earth who ought to be playing censor. The government you sic on LGBTQ children's books today might come calling for your King James Version tomorrow.

Baker thinks a panel of local busybodies, not Mom and Dad, should decide which books your kids can read and which library programs they can attend. He's confusing parental choice with big-government paternalism.

Corey Friedman is an opinion journalist who explores solutions to political conflicts from an independent perspective. Follow him on Twitter @coreywrites. To find out more about Corey Friedman and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.

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