We are truly a grassroots organization…
The League of Women Voters takes action on an issue or advocates for a cause when there is an existing League position that supports the issue or speaks to the cause.
Positions result from a process of study. Any given study, whether it be National, State, or Local, is thorough in its pursuit of facts and details. As the study progresses, a continuing discussion of pros and cons of each situation occurs. Prior to the results of the study being presented to the general membership, study committee members fashion consensus questions that are then addressed by the membership.
Additional discussion, pro and con, takes place as members (not part of the study committee) learn the scope of the study. After the members reach consensus, the board forms positions based on that consensus.
It is the consensus statement — the statement resulting from the consensus questions — that becomes a position. Firm action or advocacy can then be taken on the particular issue addressed by the position. Without a position, action/advocacy cannot be taken.
See all the Studies and Positions on the League of Women Voters of Louisiana website.
The following is a letter to the editor expressing support for the St. Tammany Library System
LWVST
P.O. Box 8
Covington, LA 70434
March 12, 2023
The League of Women Voters of Louisiana and St. Tammany is a non-partisan, volunteer political advocacy organization committed to keeping our citizens informed. We do not support political candidates but do take policy positions regarding good government and individuals’ rights. We are devoted to voting rights for all.
We wish to notify you of our support for the St. Tammany Parish Library System. Our state convention, held March 2023, approved the initiation of a study regarding book banning and/or censorship.
We appreciate our Librarian’s selection of books that reflect the range of community members such as women, blacks, Native Americans, LGBTQ+ community and many more thereby acknowledging that libraries are for everyone. We are committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in the use of taxpayer money to purchase books for all members of our community as an expression of individual rights and a commitment to right to know.
We appreciate the move by our library system issuing library cards that acknowledge the right of parents to decide what their children should read AND the responsibility of parents to monitor their children’s reading while not trampling on the rights of other parents.
We will be wholeheartedly supporting the renewal of millages to continue to support the outstanding library system of St. Tammany Parish.
We urge you to oppose the efforts here and in our state legislature to enact government control of the right to read. This goes against our values of freedom and democracy.
Sincerely,
Devoe Allen, President
League of Women Voters of St. Tammany
Bonnie Schmidt, Vice President
League of Women Voters of Louisiana