The country is continuing to fight over which books kids should have access to, and now the debate has reached Orange County. The Huntington Beach City Council recently moved ahead with a plan to restrict access to books deemed “obscene” at public libraries.
Mayor Pro Tem Gracey Van Der Mark is concerned that children have access to what she considers “obscene and pornographic materials,” explains columnist Gustavo Arellano. She wants the city attorney and the city manager to work together and figure out a way to keep kids away from these books while not violating the First Amendment.
Van Der Mark’s definition of obscene is wide-ranging, including the young adult coming-of-age memoir “Gender Queer,” which contains depictions of sex scenes; a romance novel about a Black boy and Mexican American girl in 1930s Texas; a graphic novel about a grandpa taking his grandchild to a Pride parade, which includes a picture of two leather-clad gay men embracing; and a sexual education manual from the adult section of a library.
Arellano says today’s America is not the same one he grew up in. He points out that 30 years ago, he was reading stories of Greek mythology, like the legend of the minotaur, that forever scarred him. “There's no issue with what they deem the classics, they just have issues with modern-day young adult literature.”
He emphasizes, “The world is a horrible place.… The library is designated as a safe space for everyone. And the point of a librarian is to channel, especially kids, their interest into stuff that's going to make them grow as an individual. And so for the Huntington Beach City Council to say, ‘We're the arbiters of what's obscene,’ and not librarians, it's hubris at its worst, but it's very Huntington Beach.”