Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft Comes to Town

Packed room for Brave Books event

By Gretchen Garrity

Taking advantage of the Brave Books event in Springfield on Feb. 2, Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, who is running for Missouri governor, appeared to speak briefly in support of women's sports. Candidate for Secretary of State, Valentina Gomez, 24, a former NCAA Division I swimmer, also appeared.

The event featured swimmer Riley Gaines and surfer Bethany Hamilton, both of whom have authored children's books for the Brave Books line. Gaines authored "Happy No Snakes Day," while Hamilton authored "Surfing Past Fear."

Riley Gaines and Bethany Hamilton in Springfield

 

The event was standing room only with lines eventually reaching outside the Springfield Library Center's doors. Hundreds of people showed up to see Gaines and Hamilton read their Brave Book stories.

Although LGBTQ+ activists vowed to "take up space" according to a Springfield News-Leader article, their small numbers were overwhelmed. One quiet protester muttered that she was in conservative hell before absconding.

Secretary Ashcroft seemed to forget the names of Hamilton and Gaines when he spoke (see video below). Also, he mentioned the National Library Association, and not the American Library Association. Oddly, when a search was conducted for the National Library Association, search engines like Google and Brave took seekers straight to the American Library Association. An additional search for the president of the NLA took seekers to Emily Drabinski, president of the ALA.

Sec. Ashcroft is well aware of the ALA. He knows the ALA advocates for transgender ideology, as well as other far-left positions. In fact, in the past he has written a letter rebuking the ALA and withholding funds from them for previously trying to prevent a Brave Books event. Previous articles about our libraries are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

 

Perhaps it was an inadvertent error to refer to the ALA as the NLA, an organization that does not seem to exist. But it's odd that a search engine automatically directs searchers to the ALA. Something seems amiss.

Brave search for National Library Association

It is a testament to Gaines and Hamilton that their example of standing for women and women's sports have inspired so many.