Huntington Beach leaders announce plan to fight ACLU lawsuit against library system
The argument continues about whether Huntington Beach city leaders are censoring material that contains sexual content by removing it from the children's section of the library.
"We are in a bit of uncharted territory given that no other library in the state of California or anywhere in this country has taken meaningful action to protect children from explicit material," City Councilwoman Gracey Van Der Mark said.
City Council members invited supporters to meet on Tuesday to hear how Huntington Beach plans to fight a new lawsuit filed by the ACLU.
"They have come to the wrong town to pick this battle," Councilman Chad Williams said. "They are about to find out that in Huntington Beach, we fight differently because we are fighting for that which we love."
Last year, under the direction of the city council, librarians began moving books deemed to be obscene or pornographic. KCAL News found staff sorting through hundreds of books in the health section of the children's and teen room. Some of these books pertaining to the human body, puberty and toilet training were shelved to be relocated to the library's adult section.
Erin Spivey, a plaintiff in the case, was one of the city's branch librarians.
"The goal of this lawsuit is to repeal the ordinances dealing with this sexual content standard, which is very undefinited and difficult," Spivey said.
Spivey described the ordinance as a book ban, which is part of the reason she left her job in Huntington Beach.
"When you remove a book from a section and place it in a new section that is only available to adults that is censorship," Spivey said.
The lawsuit also seeks to remove a proposed review panel that would have the final say on the books that come into the library.
