Huntington Beach city leaders will consider giving broad authority to the city attorney to decide what books minors can access from the public library.
Tuesday’s motion was authored by Mayor Pro Tem Gracey Van Der Mark. In a memo to colleagues, Van Der Mark claimted “it has been a longstanding problem in public education that children are being exposed to obscene, and age inappropriate material by adults."
According to Van Der Mark, Huntington Beach libraries contain “pornographic material” in the sections for young readers. One of the books she has criticized is “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe. Her proposal comes on the heels of criticism from conservative groups over the Huntington Beach Library’s recognition of Pride Month.
Van Der Mark’s agenda item would “direct the City Manager to work with the City Attorney to return to the City Council in August of this year with a proposed Ordinance for the City’s libraries and other public facilities making obscene and/or pornographic material, both in hard copy and digitally/electronically, unavailable to minors; with the City Attorney evaluating the materials under the First Amendment.” The ordinance should also “include new screening protocols for books/material/content yet to be acquired by the Library or other City facilities that are intended for children at our public facilities, by screened for ‘obscenity’ within the meaning of the First Amendment,” it says.
Councilmember Dan Kalmick called the item “ridiculous”.
“The city attorney shouldn’t be making decisions on what’s in the library, our libraries should be a trove of knowledge,” he told Voice of OC. “I think it’s ironic that someone who’s pro choice for parents wants to take choice away from parents.”
Councilmember Natalie Moser, who is also opposed to the item, urged constituents to submit public comments opposing the proposal on Tuesday.
Van Der Mark's proposal is part of a larger trend of literary restriction and censorship in jurisdictions across the country. The debate has primarily taken place in public schools. Earlier this month, Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta threatened legal action against districts that ban books from school libraries or classrooms.