The Alabama Public Library Service will hold public hearing on rule change to protect children

October 21, 2025 – MONTGOMERY, AL - The Alabama Public Library Service Board will convene on Tuesday for a public hearing to consider proposed rule changes aimed at protecting minors from the promotion of gender ideology in publicly funded libraries.

The meeting will be held Tuesday, October 21, 2025, at APLS Headquarters in Montgomery.

The APLS Board has already opened a public comment period on this issue in early September. Written comments were accepted through October 14. Today is the opportunity for oral comments to be heard at today's meeting.

Board members will then consider all feedback from both written and oral comments following Tuesday's public meeting.

The Chairman of the Alabama Public Library Service has been a vocal supporter of enhanced rules to protect children from sexually explicit books in the children's sections of libraries and from allowing radical LGBTQ+ books to use the library as a platform to proselytize and encourage children to receive scientifically dubious hormone treatments, pharmaceuticals, and surgeries to appear as a gender other than the one they were born with.

Chairman Wahl made the following statement:

"The goal of this amendment is to ensure our libraries remain safe, family-friendly spaces for families across the state of Alabama," Chairman Wahl said. "The APLS Board is committed to keeping our libraries focused on education and encouraging reading, while respecting parental rights and protecting children from sexual content. Sexuality is a deeply personal issue, and parents should never have to fear that their child will be exposed to explicit content they disagree with in our library youth sections."

The proposed rules would set clear standards regarding the placement and accessibility of materials that promote gender ideology and transgender procedures in library youth sections. The amendment reads:

"Under this section, any material that promotes, encourages, or positively depicts transgender procedures, gender ideology, or the concept of more than two biological genders shall be considered inappropriate for children and youth."

The final wording of the amendment (if adopted at all) will be considered by the Board after today's hearing.

This proposed amendment follows the Board's policy change last summer, which required sexually explicit books to be moved out of children's and youth sections. The new rule addressing gender ideology continues the APLS Board's ongoing effort to protect Alabama's minors and uphold parents' rights to guide what their children are exposed to.

Gender transitioning of minors is illegal under Alabama law; but books encouraging children to feel uncomfortable with the body there were born with is not illegal. Supporters of the sexually explicit and gender transitioning books (many of them from the LGBTQ+ community) argue that the books are protected under the First Amendment and that children should be exposed to these concepts at early ages.

Some libraries – most notably the Fairhope Library – have publicly refused to comply with the APLS board and have lost state funds in response to their public defiance.

The public hearing will be 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday at the Alabama Public Library Service Headquarters; 6030 Monticello Drive; Montgomery, AL 36117.