MONTGOMERY, Ala. — An Alabama board is seeking to prohibit public libraries from placing books that “positively” depict transgender themes and topics in teen and children’s sections.

The Alabama Public Library Service Board of Directors is considering a proposed rule change that expands the existing requirement for youth sections to be free of “material deemed inappropriate for children.” The new proposal said that includes any material that “positively depicts transgender procedures, gender ideology, or the concept of more than two biological genders.”

The Alabama proposal is the latest salvo in the national fight over library content. The state board on Tuesday held a lengthy and sometimes heated and emotional public hearing ahead of next month’s expected vote.

Opponents called the proposal blatantly discriminatory and an attempt to impose one viewpoint on all Alabamians at the expense of trans youth and their families.

“These changes do not protect children — they police ideas,” said Matthew Layne, a past president of the Alabama Library Association.

Supporters of the proposal said parents who want their children to read the books can get them in other places.

“Removing trans books is not book-banning,” Julia Cleland, a member of the group Eagle Forum, told the board. Cleland said she would prefer the books be removed entirely from public libraries, not just youth sections.

John Wahl, the chairman of the library board, said he expects the board to approve the rule change, or an amended version of it, when they meet next month. He said libraries could stock the materials in adult sections where parents could access them for their children.

“We want parents to be confident that the children’s sections of Alabama libraries are age appropriate, that their children are not going to stumble against sexually explicit content,” Wahl said. Wahl is also chair of the Alabama Republican Party.

Some speakers said public libraries must serve all types of families, including those with trans children and adults.

Alyx Kim-Yohn, a librarian in north Alabama, told the board that as a queer teenager, they were isolated and bullied to the point of writing a suicide note.

“What saved me was reading literature that had people like me in it. What saved me was finding other queer folks who had the opportunity to grow up and be queer adults, which not all of us get,” Kim-Yohn said.

Other speakers said they didn’t want their child or grandchild to see books suggesting that gender can be changed.

The three-hour meeting ended with pointed disagreements over the motivation for the proposal.

“It’s politically motivated. It is taking away control from local libraries who are appointed by local governing bodies,” board member Ronald A. Snider said. Snider accused Wahl of using his position as Republican Party chairman to drum up support of the proposal.

Wahl said the proposal was in response to concerns and that his goal was “to put parents in charge.”

If the Alabama change is adopted, a local library could lose state funding if the board decides it is not compliant. The Alabama library board this spring voted to withhold state funding from the Fairhope Public Library because of some of the books available in the teen section of the library.

The Alabama proposal comes amid a wave of legislation and regulations in Republican-controlled states targeting libraries.

Kasey Meehan, the director of the Freedom to Read program at PEN America, said this is not the first time they’ve seen a state government “attempt to remove youth access to books with LGBTQ+ themes.” She noted an Idaho law that restricted access to books with content considered “harmful to minors.”

“Policies that target LGBTQ themes in libraries are not only discriminatory but a disaster for libraries and readers,” Meehan said. “These policies feed on ignorance and fear-mongering against queer and trans people, and diminish the ability of libraries to effectively serve all within their communities.”

Alabama football’s defensive MVP for the Tennessee game was a difficult choice. So much so that even the SEC didn’t want to make the call.

The conference named two Crimson Tide players as its co-defensive players of the week. Both edge-rusher Yhonzae Pierre and cornerback Zabien Brown split the honor following UA’s 37-20 win, the league announced on Monday.

Brown made the highlight play of the game at the very end of the first half. Tennessee was threatening to pull within a field goal, at Alabama’s one-yard line.

Volunteer quarterback Joey Aguilar telegraphed a throw to the sideline. Brown saw it coming, jumped the route and picked off the pass.

Brown then took it all the way back, avoiding the one man who could have possibly stopped him. The play gave the Crimson Tide a 16-point lead, which it never looked back from.

Up front, Pierre had an enormous game, getting after Aguilar. Before Saturday’s game, he had tallied one career sack, earlier this season.

Against the Volunteers, Pierre notched three, for a total of 31 yards. He finished the game with six total tackles, five of them solo.

“He’s been right there,” Kalen DeBoer said of Pierre after the game. “And I’m really pleased with the last couple weeks, what he’s done. He played a lot of snaps last week. I don’t know what his number was today. But with just the depth chart there and the guys that are out, we’re asking more out of him, and he’s rising to the occasion.

“He works hard in practice. He’s built his stamina up more to where he can compete for four quarters now. And that’s just really cool to see. It’s really him understanding that, man, any play, I can go win one-on-one, and making sure he’s lined up and does his assignment and just strains from start to finish in each and every play.”

Alabama is back in action on Saturday, facing South Carolina on the road. The game in Columbia is scheduled to kick off at 2:30 p.m. CT and will be aired on ABC.