Debate over sexual material in Wyoming libraries is heating up… and getting awkward

Rev. Dan Odell wore his clerical collar to address lawmakers on the Joint Judiciary Committee on Tuesday evening in Casper.

The Methodist pastor wanted the committee to know that if a bill to ban books containing sexually-explicit material from the children’s sections of Wyoming libraries passed as currently written, it could block minors from one book many lawmakers might say is their favorite: the Bible. 

To illustrate his point, Odell read aloud some of the religious text’s more graphic passages, like this one from the Book of Ezekiel: 

“She lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses,” Odell read. 

That passage was one of five containing what Odell called “frank descriptions of sexual acts,” that he read or cited for the committee. The reverend had more examples, he told lawmakers, than his allotted time for public comment on the bill would permit.

A notable swathe of Wyoming legislators have joined a nationwide movement of social conservatives who say sexually explicit content, mostly in books written for young LGBTQ+ readers, is corrupting children. They hope to keep minors from seeking out, or stumbling upon, sexual material in Wyoming libraries. As the packed committee room in Casper suggested, their opposition, largely led by the state’s educators and librarians, is growing larger and more organized. 

And as demonstrated by Odell’s testimony, the debate is injecting an unusually carnal note into Wyoming politics. 

That includes the language of the bill draft itself, which requires public and school library employees to make sure sexually explicit materials aren’t available to minors, or face severe penalties. Like other conservative social issue measures the Wyoming Legislature has passed recently, the bill would let citizens sue institutions they catch violating the new rules. 

The draft contains a six-point definition of sexual acts that cannot be depicted in literature available to a minor. The definitions include graphic descriptions like “ejaculation onto the person of another” or “contact between the mouth and genitalia or mouth and anus,” that are a far cry from the often staid and technical language of statute. 

“Sorry if I get flush,” an embarrassed Rep. Jayme Lien said at the committee’s May meeting in Torrington, as the Casper Republican read the bill language, which mirrors statute passed in Iowa, to her colleagues. 

Staff attorneys from the Legislative Service Office have suggested that lawmakers could instead rely on a definition of “obscene materials” that already exists in Wyoming statute. That language describes obscene material as something the average person would find prurient or offensive — without getting into the detailed definitions proposed by Lien. But the existing language also notes that, to be considered legally obscene, the material in question, “taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.”

That definition borrows from a pivotal U.S. Supreme Court decision, Miller v. California. In that decision, the justices found that for material to be considered obscene under the law it had to lack those other societal values. Rep. Anne Lucas, the Cheyenne Republican who has been a vocal proponent of the legislation to ban books, says the Miller test was written for adults, not children. 

“The Supreme Court, when they heard that case, it never occurred to them, I suspect, that we would be talking about this in reference to children and obscene materials,” she told lawmakers in Casper on Tuesday, as she argued against using the language suggested by legislative staff. The high court heard Miller v. California in 1973. 

The bill’s opponents argue lawmakers are flirting with unconstitutional suppression of free speech in their quest to legislate what books are available where. 

Though Odell, the pastor, didn’t name the Miller case, he echoed the justices’ notion that sexual imagery or language can be embedded in texts with deeper meaning. 

“I mention these not for the sake of sensationalism,” the clergyman said of the graphic biblical passages he read lawmakers, “but because they’re a part of larger passages that reflect spiritual and moral truths.”

Rep. Marlene Brady, a Green River Republican who’s been outspoken on her belief that sexually explicit content endangers minors, took issue with Odell’s quoting of scripture. 

“The Bible is a book of history,” she said, “and some of those passages you’re referring to in my understanding of the Bible is the creator’s message to the beauty of the relationship, of a marriage, between a man and a woman… so to use it as support for what I would consider immoral material, I just take offense to that.” 

Lawmakers did not act on the legislation in Casper. After hearing two hours of public testimony, nearly all of which was in opposition to the bill, lawmakers postponed a vote on whether to sponsor it as a committee bill until an October meeting in Cheyenne. 

Opponents of the legislation include advocates for LGBTQ+ Wyomingites. They accuse lawmakers of taking aim specifically at books that help gay youth understand their sexuality, in a state that isn’t always welcoming to them. Some of the definitions of sexually explicit material appear to originate from passages of a book called “Gender Queer,” which has generated outrage among conservatives nationwide.

“Wyoming already has obscenity laws that protect us from material with no redeeming value,” Marylee White, a Teton County library board member, told lawmakers. “This proposal goes further, allowing one group’s personal beliefs about morality to dictate what all families can access.”

The meeting drew a packed room of librarians, educators and other opponents who said the measure would stifle free expression and erode the role of the state’s libraries as places Wyomingites, including young people, can go to explore. 

“It ruins what the library is,” Lindsey Travis, president of the Wyoming Library Association and head librarian in Sweetwater County, told the committee. Despite the graphic definitions, librarians remain concerned that the general ban on “sexually explicit” materials was so broad that it would be nearly impossible for them to police all the books available to teens and children. 

Opponents asked legislators to respect library professionals’ processes for selecting books, and the existing avenues people can take to request a text’s removal. Those structures allowed local communities, not distant politicians, to shape their library collections, Travis said. 

But many legislators believe it’s within their purview to regulate library books. Sheridan Republican Rep. Laurie Bratten cited a section of the Wyoming Constitution that deals with protecting Wyomingite’s morality. 

“As the health and the morality of the people are essential to their well-being, and to the peace and permanence of the state, it shall be the duty of the legislature to protect and promote these vital interests,” reads the section of constitution Bratten quoted.

Travis offered to pair librarians with lawmakers in a working group to see if the two parties could reach a better compromise than the current legislation, which exposes libraries and schools caught violating the new rules to a $50,000 fine for each offense. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Jared Olsen, R-Cheyenne, told Travis the committee would not pursue the working group, she told WyoFile on Wednesday. 

The committee will also not hear further public testimony in Cheyenne, Olsen said at the Casper meeting. 

Lawmakers’ email inboxes, however, may not be so spared. Committee members received hundreds of emails asking them to vote down the bill ahead of the Casper meeting, lawmakers said. More than 850 people answered a call from the political organizing group Better Wyoming to write and oppose the legislation, executive director Nate Martin told WyoFile. 

“Those aren’t just librarians,” Martin said. “Those are parents, those are people who care about their libraries and those are people who are tired of watching the Freedom Caucus advance their extremist religious agenda.” 

A majority in the state House of Representatives aligns with the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, whose members have pushed for regulating library books both at the statehouse and at the local government level. The Freedom Caucus notched up legislative wins last year after taking control of the House, but Martin predicted the group will see increased opposition on this particular issue. 

The response to the group’s call to write lawmakers opposing the legislation was “overwhelming and frankly larger than that on most issues we deal with,” said Martin, who also serves on Laramie’s school board.