'Free speech' Assembly Member appeals to Führer to hide gender identity book at Anchorage library
Eagle River Assembly Person Jamie Allard, who said she "truly believed" all transgender men and women were mentally ill on the Louisiana-based Dan Fagan Show in July, took to the shadowy private Save Anchorage operation last week in an attempt to generate outrage over a children's book on display at the Anchorage Public Library (APL).
Allard, who remains a continual source of disappointment for many of her constituents, also sympathized with and defended Nazi terminology seen on two Alaska vanity license plates last January.
In attempting to justify her defense of the words "FUHRER" and "3REICH", Allard wrote in a Facebook comment that she was "not for banning free speech," which is a tough pill to swallow given her apparent concern about the book on display.
Allard's gripe appears to be with the placement/display of the children's book, 'Jack Not Jackie,' which addresses the topics of gender identity and gender expression and encourages children to accept people wholeheartedly for who they are.
The book was published in partnership with GLAAD to accelerate LGBTQ inclusivity and acceptance.
Ever the on-again-off-again free speech advocate, Allard opted to only share the photographs with her fellow Save Anchorage members — a group whose members have called Anchorage Assembly members pedophiles, dykes, and enemy combatants.
The seductively crafted post was presented as an open question to the group, the intent of which seems clear — to generate a stream of emails addressed to Anchorage Mayor David Bronson and social media racist Judy Eledge about the book's placement.
Mayor Bronson, if you didn't know, is a founding board member of the Alaska Family Council and a member of Alaska Family Action, which promotes the "union of one man and one woman" and which claims that those (such as himself) who subscribe to "natural views on marriage" are "vilified as bigoted or discriminatory."
The poor guy.
In August 2020, Eledge shared an "article" from Epoch Times titled "Social Media, Schools, and the Secret Rise of Transgender Children: The New Social Contagion." Anchorage's social media superstar has also shared numerous horrifying homophobic and transphobic posts to her social media accounts that she has never publicly apologized for.
Inexplicably, Eledge is still functioning in her seemingly perpetual role as deputy/acting director of the APL.
The reaction of members associated with Save Anchorage was about what one might expect from the far-right group, whose members have spread conspiracy theories, called for civil war, and threatened public officials.
"It's a religious, Satanic attack on how God made us, male and female," wrote one Save Anchorage member in response to Allard's post, "If they really cared about children, they'd be exposing the gender-bending chemicals instead of mind-controlling children into their 'woke' agenda."
Another group member asked why the library was concerned with their children's sexuality, which prompted a response from another group member who stated that it was because they were a bunch of pedophiles.
Others within the group encouraged Allard to "follow the money" back to the book's author, speculating that they may have received pandemic grant funds to write the book during COVID.
'Jack Not Jackie' was published in October 2018, long before the covid pandemic began.
Incredibly, one member of Save Anchorage called for both the book's removal and the librarian's firing. Allard swiftly responded directly to the comment, writing that she would like to see the book moved to another section of the library but wouldn't fire the director over it, likely because Judy Eledge is the library's acting director.
Other members called the book's display "child abuse," and more suggested that because there were "9 libs" on the Assembly and because "half of them" were gay, the book's display was somehow tied to the personal agendas of Assembly members.
What Allard may not understand is that displays in the APL are fluid. Sometimes new books are displayed, and often staff members fill the displays themselves. Even more often, library patrons put books where they don't belong to avoid walking them to a reshelving cart.
Not outside the realm of possibility is that someone could have easily pulled 'Jack not Jackie' off the library shelf, placed it into the display, and snapped a photograph to generate outrage over...a children's book.
Last week, a library display featured a children's book about various Bible stories, which I assume Allard would say was fine. But, apparently, for the far-right and intolerant Allard — books that address gender identity and gender expression and that have a message of acceptance and inclusivity should be available to library patrons — so long as they aren't seen in a display at the library.
As Jamie Allard asked of her fellow Save Anchorage members, feel free to share your thoughts about whether LGBTQ books should be displayed at the public library. You're allowed.
