HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA – A classic children’s book called Everyone Poops aims to teach kids that all animals poop because it is a natural aspect of life. The Way We Work visually explains how the human body works, and Your One and Only Heart discusses the human heart’s role, reported First Amendment Coalition (FAC) this week.
But FAC alleges that although these books seem to provide children with important information, the Huntington City Council believes they should—along with many other books—be moved to the restricted areas of the libraries where parents or guardians must authorize their child’s access to them.
This scheme pushing the censorship of many books is the result of a City Council resolution that calls for the “review of library materials containing sexual content” and restricts access by anyone under 18 to these materials, reported FAC.
The vagueness of this undefined term allows for flexible interpretation beyond the legal definition of obscenity, allowing for numerous literary classics to be targeted, wrote FAC, noting this has censored books about puberty, reproductive health, gender expression and identity, and even books on parenting.
Three Huntington Beach residents, including two teenagers, are suing the City of Huntington Beach, its Council, and others for this library censorship scheme, reported FAC.
The two teenagers, a local resident, and Alianza Translatinx, a transgender-led advocacy group, are represented by FAC, the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, Community Legal Aid SoCal, and Jenner & Block LLP.
The lawsuit seeks a court order compelling the city to comply with the 2024 California Freedom to Read Act, which prohibits similar book bans, and the California Constitution, according to FAC.
FAC Legal Director David Low said, “For young people especially, freedom of thought begins with the freedom to read,” and “to read is to explore and learn — to see one’s experience reflected by others or to imagine oneself in the shoes of another.
“The government has no business standing in the way of young people as they grow into adulthood by reading about the diverse experiences of the world around them.”
