February 10th, 2023 Friends, AG Jeff Landry is calling for changes to the Louisiana library card system that would allow parents to choose whether their child be allowed to check-out or access sexually explicit material. In a press conference on Tuesday, Landry released the Protecting Innocence report, an examination of public libraries including the access minors now have to material that is age-inappropriate, and potential solutions which involve parents and lawmakers to protect innocence. “Protecting the innocence of children and giving parents a say in what content their children consume is a top priority of mine.” Landry stated. He was accompanied at the conference by Senator Heather Cloud, Representative Julie Emmerson, and Representative Paul Hollis. Senator Cloud pre-filed Senate Bill 7 this week, which would require libraries to set up a card system that allows parents or guardians to indicate whether minors are allowed to check out certain materials. A similar bill will be filed in the House by Representative Emmerson. Landry says his “main mission is about what's appropriate for children, and it is for parents to control the information their children see or have access to in public libraries.” | |
On Tuesday evening, President Biden gave the annual State of the Union address. Unsurprisingly, the opinions of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, and Louisiana’s five Republican representatives and two US Senators on the State of the Union contrasted that of President Biden. “The state of the union is struggling under the weight of President Biden’s extremist agenda that is causing pain to hardworking families,” Scalise said in response to the address Tuesday night. Rep. Clay Higgins also offered his opinion in 140 characters or less:  | |
Senator Katrina Jackson is facing a lawsuit from the Tulane University First Amendment Law Clinic for allegedly violating the First Amendment rights of a critic on Twitter. The lawsuit claims that the senator blocked a Twitter user who was critical of her actions in the Louisiana State Senate, violating their right to free speech. New Orleans resident Maya Detiege sent tweets to Jackson in June criticizing the senator’s political views, particularly Jackson’s anti-abortion stance. The senator was the lead sponsor of the legislation that created Louisiana’s strict abortion ban last year. The tweet read: “I say this with all disrespect: burn in hell. You don’t care about women. You don’t care about pregnant people. You don’t care about children. You don’t care about education. I don’t respect all black women. Some of you b*tches are very dumb.” Soon after, Jackson blocked Detiege permanently. “I am not going to run from this,” Jackson said. “If any federal court in our nation considers that protected speech, then African Americans are no longer protected from hate speech.” | |
Friends, professional surfer Bethany Hamilton is speaking out against the World Surf League's newly announced policy that would allow for transgender males to compete at the highest level in professional surfing against biological women. Hamilton used her Instagram platform to advocate for women saying, "The World Surf League has officially made the rule that male-bodied individuals known as transgender athletes can officially compete in the women's division…I personally won't be competing in or supporting the World Surf League if this rule remains." Thank you, Bethany, for speaking up about the preservation of women's sports! | |
Gene Mills
President
Louisiana Family Forum P.S. Stay tuned for the LFF 2023 Longest Married Couple announcement. | |
