Chicago City Wire

Chaya Raichik, a social media influencer who posts on Twitter under the name Libs of TikTok, called out Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker for signing an anti-book-banning bill into law, saying it puts porn in the hands of kids.

"The Governor of Illinois signed an 'anti-book banning' bill today and displayed books which teach kids about gay sex, promote sex apps and kink, and contain graphic depictions of sex scenes. Why is @GovPritzker so desperate for your kids to read porn??" Raichik wrote in a June 12 Twitter post.

Signed by Pritzker, HB2789 orders libraries statewide to “adopt the American Library Association's Library Bill of Rights that indicates materials should not be proscribed or removed because of partisan or doctrinal disapproval or... develop a written statement (to) prohibit the practice of banning specific books or resources.”

The ALA Library Bill of Rights says, “A person’s right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views.”

Regarding access by minors, the ALA says, “Library policies and procedures that effectively deny minors equal and equitable access to all library resources and services available to other users are in violation of the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights... Constitutionally protected speech cannot be suppressed solely to protect children or young adults from ideas or images a legislative body believes to be unsuitable for them. Libraries and their library governing bodies should not resort to age restrictions ... Students and minors ... have a right to be free from any unreasonable intrusion into or surveillance of their lawful library use. Parents and guardians who do not want their children to have access to specific library services, materials, or facilities should so advise their own children.”

Raichik sees problems with that view. “Here are some pages from 2 of the books which @GovPritzker displayed,” she wrote in a post under her original tweet. “For some reason he didn’t show any pages from the actual books that he claims are being targeted by ‘book bans.’ I wonder why!” 

One of the two books cited by Raichik, “Gender Queer,” includes two images of a boy’s penis in another boy’s mouth, with commentary by the recipient.

"Gender Queer" was the #1 most “challenged” book by parents in 2022, the ALA said. “Most of the targeted books were written by or about members of the LGBTQIA+ community and people of color," the ALA said. The list “illustrates how frequently stories by or about LGBTQ+ persons, people of color, and lived experiences are being targeted by censors," said ALA President Lessa Kanani'opua Pelayo-Lozada.

Raichik is publishing a children's book of her own, a New York Post story said. “Raichik, 28, who has spent the past two years tweeting TikTok videos of liberals spouting off about gender identity and other hot-button culture war issues — amassing over 1.9 million followers in the process — says the book is her ‘next step.’” the Post story said.

Journalist Jennifer Bilek published an article, “The Billionaire Family Pushing Synthetic Sex Identities (SSI),” about J.B. Pritzker and his family. “The wealthy, powerful, and sometimes very weird Pritzker cousins have set their sights on a new God-like goal: using gender ideology to remake human biology,” she wrote. “One of the most powerful yet unremarked-upon drivers of our current wars over definitions of gender is a concerted push by members of one of the richest families in the United States to transition Americans from a dimorphic definition of sex to the broad acceptance and propagation of synthetic sex identities (SSI).”