Huntington Beach City Council debates library policy for ‘sexual content’

Huntington Beach City Council members Tuesday evening were debating a proposed ordinance that would review and restrict access for books containing sexual content at the city’s library system.

The proposal has drawn criticism from the First Amendment Coalition, the Freedom to Read Foundation and American Civil Liberties Union, which co-signed a letter to the City Council opposing the measure.

David Loy, legal director for the First Amendment Coalition, said the ordinance was clearly unconstitutional. In the letter the opponents cited multiple Supreme Court cases knocking down similar attempts at censorship.

Free speech is “especially salient in a public library,” they said in the letter. “Unsurprisingly, courts have rejected similar misguided attempts to restrict access to library books.”

Loy said the proposal restricts access to some books for children without parental consent and that a review board of members would decide what would be restricted.

“It’s completely undefined and could mean anything to anyone,” Loy told City News Service of what would be deemed sexual content.

“It does impose censorship on the library,” Loy said. “In my view it is clearly unconstitutional. People themselves have the right to decide what they want to read, not a free-flowing censorship board.”

Loy said the proposal was so vague, sexual content could be found in “the Bible, ‘Romeo and Juliet;’ ‘The Great Gatsby,’ you name it. It’s one of the most absurd forms of censorship. The City Council should not be directing the city public library to engage in censorship.”

When Councilwoman Gracey Van Der Mark proposed a change in library policy in June, she read passages from several books for young readers that she claimed were recommended by the state and were in the Huntington Beach Public Library children’s section. One of the books she cited was “Gender Queer.”

Van Der Mark said the sex education books had passages about nocturnal emissions, masturbation and how to properly insert a tampon.

“I do believe parents have a right to know” about what books are available to check out at the library, she said.

“What I am asking is we look into different ways to protect kids,” she said. “If you want this for your kids go for it … but a lot of parents don’t know this material is in the books.”

Van Der Mark suggested placing “a sticker on books to let parents know it is especially graphic.”

She added, “I don’t understand why anyone has a problem warning parents about this material that is in these books. We’re not banning them, not removing them, but letting parents have an informed decision.”

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