January 2026
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    Alabama library denied funding because it won’t remove classic book ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’

    by largeheartedboy

    47 Comments

    1. Kudos to the Library!

      If you don’t like a book, just don’t read it. Stop forcing your beliefs on others.

    2. AccomplishedBake8351 on

      Such a good book. I think most teens could read it. Maybe a little disclaimer when you check it out for trigger warnings.

    3. Small (but significant) correction: the library refused to *move* the book, not *remove* the book. They were asked to move the book from the teen section to the adult section. They were not asked to remove the book.

    4. Per the article, the same board denying funding has also expanded the definition of inappropriate books to include any that have positive portrayals of trans characters.

    5. >Most of these books have appeared on banned book lists for years, including lists created by conservative groups like Clean Up Alabama and ***Moms for Liberty***.

      That’s pretty telling that books like “The Handmaid’s Tale” trigger a blip on the Moms for Liberty radar. They awarded RJ May (now EX State Republican Representive SC), a guy who said transgender people harm kids, with the “Legislator of the Year” award not to long ago.

      The guy has since been busted for like 500 counts of child abuse material and sentenced to almost 20 years in prison, so I wouldn’t put much stock in the books this hate group thinks should be banned.

    6. Master-Education7076 on

      Your title is false. The library was directed to move the book to the adult section, not remove the book altogether.

    7. You have changed the title of the article. The request wasn’t for them to REMOVE the book (as you’ve written), but to MOVE it from the teen section to the adult section of the library.

      Not saying that was a reasonable request by the local government, but it’s very clear from reading the article (that it seems most people commenting here didn’t actually do) that they were not asked to REMOVE the book.

      Why did you change the title?

    8. While I disagree about cutting funding and am very much opposed to book banning, I am curious why the book would be in the teenage section? It’s a general adult work of fiction, is it not? 

    9. The article says they want to move it from the teen section to the adult section. Not remove it from their circulation.

    10. VastConversational on

      Headline is a little misleading. They weren’t told to remove the book completely from the library but just move it from the teen section to the adult section. They refused and that’s why they are being denied funding.

    11. Wow. The Fairhope library is where I really fell in love with reading. My mom used to take me there every week. I am so proud of them!

    12. bobbymcpresscot on

      >Snider said he believed the overall content of the books are addressed to the correct audience. He said to Wahl that if he believed that teenagers hadn’t already heard these words, “you’re not in the reality that I’ve been.”

      >Wahl said some of the books have literary value, but he would not want a child to read them before the content was explained by a parent.

      >“Parents make those decisions,” Wright said. “If you as a parent don’t like this book, then your child doesn’t read it. But you can’t keep that book away from my child. It’s not your job to make that decision.”

      “my 13 year old doesn’t know about sex and I don’t want them to learn about it from a book”

      THEN TEACH THEM YA GOOBERS

      Why are these people all so fucking incompetent.

    13. I read the book in public school in the Bible Belt in the deepest red part of this country in the 90s, and no one gave a shit. Not one parent opted their kid out. This country has gone psychotic.

    14. VapoursAndSpleen on

      “At issue is about $22,000 in state funding. Since the showdown began, the library has raised more than $100,000 in community donations.”

      Problem solved.

    15. I had to read and analyse The handmaid’s tale in high school and I’m not even from the US.

      Just shows you the significance of this book. 

    16. OddGuarantee4061 on

      So, the state is telling parents what their kids can read? Shouldn’t that level of big government send Conservatives screaming into the void? And they call the rest of us sheep.

    17. Who’s starting the gofundme? Let’s make them the most well funded library in the country.

    18. bettinafairchild on

      True story: one of Atwood’s inspirations for *The Handmaid’s Tale* came when she was a visiting scholar at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa. Serena Joy and a lot of the rhetoric of the wives were inspired by that experience. She was living there while she was writing it even though she started it the previous year. 

    19. It’s a good book but classic my ass I remember when that book came out it was only…….41 years ago.

      BRB I’m gonna crumble into a pile of dust

    20. Odd_Trifle6698 on

      Good to see a library standing up or the 50 or so people that can read in their community

    21. I’ve said it before and I’m saying it now. Every man, woman, and child needs to read this book.

    22. Chocolate_Babka_ on

      I grew up in an extremely conservative home. My senior year of high school, this was assigned in my English class. Half way through the book, one of the students told my teacher about my religious upbringing, and my teacher was mortified. Pulled me aside and apologized profusely.

      The book did shock and rock me to my core but was instrumental in helping me deconstruct my upbringing and seeing the harm in my religion. And that’s why they don’t want this book in the library.

      Thanks Ms. Atwood.

    23. As someone originally from Alabama, I’d like to provide some context. This is happening in perhaps the loveliest town in the state. If you’ve ever seen the show Parks & Recreation, it’d be completely reasonable to compare Fairhope to Eagleton for its idyllic way of life. It differs from the show because the people in Fairhope are the salt of the earth. They would give you the shirt off their back and then invite you over for a dinner of seafood they probably caught and prepared themselves. Trust me when I say you want to retire here – I know I do. It’s the only place I’d move back to Alabama to live in.

      All this to paint a picture and to encourage you to support this library, this town, and these people if you’ve been feeling so inclined. I know in the absence of this funding, they’ve rallied around their library and have been donating for months. They would appreciate it!

      Donations can be contributed directly to the library by mail using [these instructions](https://fairhopelibrary.org/index.php/donate/). You can also donate to [Friends of the Fairhope Library](https://fairhopelibrary.org/index.php/friends/) using the contact information on this website.

    24. Just2LetYouKnow on

      Tell them it’s banned, stock it anyway, gaslight them if they try to say you didn’t ban it.

      Y’all need to learn to lie better if you want to make it through the next couple years.

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