Illinois Becomes First State to Outlaw Book Bans

On Monday, Illinois officially became the first state in the country to outlaw book bans.

“We are not saying that every book should be in every single library,” insisted Illinois Secretary of State, Alexi Giannoulias. “What this law does is it says, let’s trust our experience and education of our librarians to decide what books should be in circulation.”

Public libraries that continue to ban books for political or religious reasons will no longer be eligible for state funding after the law goes into effect at the beginning of next year.