A group of California residents are fighting against a recent ordinance that has allowed a review board to remove books about potty training and puberty from the children's library.
In Huntington Beach, a residents' group called Protect HB has collected over 15,000 signatures to challenge a new ordinance allowing a review board to decide on public library content. The board, created by a city council majority, can control which books are added or removed, including relocating children's books it deems "inappropriate."
"The books that they have relocated are currently puberty books, books that had any form of nudity that they didn't feel comfortable with," Carol Daus of Friends of HB Library told KCAL. "Potty training books, for example, have been moved...to the fourth floor in an adult section, which I think is inappropriate."
City council member Gracey Van der Mark supports the resolution, which calls for restricted access to "obscene and pornographic" images or writing.
"Children should not have access to these books," Van der Mark told KCAL. "If you're an adult go for it; you can read whatever you want.
Among the board's critics is Rhonda Bolton, also a city council member, who equates the review board's actions to censorship.
"If you do look at legal jurisprudence, what that says is even moving a book from the children's section to the adult section is censorship," Bolton said. "That's what the law says. So, I'm not going to advise anyone to do something that's not legal."
If enough signatures are validated, voters will decide in a March 2025 special election whether the board will remain in place. Mayor Gracey Van Der Mark, who supports the board, stated that the city would "respect the will of the voters."
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