Huntington Beach wants options for making it harder for children to access sexually explicit books

A Huntington Beach City Council majority supports finding ways to make it harder for children to access sexually explicit books at city libraries.

Councilmember Gracey Van Der Mark’s proposal passed in a 4-3 vote shortly after 1 a.m. Wednesday, June 21, with the council’s conservative majority asking the city attorney and city manager to return with various options in a September study session.

“We are open to any ideas that staff, the city attorney or the community, comes up with,” Van Der Mark said.

“What I am asking is that we look into different ways to protect kids from this,” Van Der Mark said after having presented several books she had concerns about that she said she found in the local library. She said she wasn’t looking to ban books, but remove them from access by children without adult supervision. “Parents check these books out. If this is what you want for your kids, go for it.”

In her presentation, she included passages and illustrations from “The V-Word: True Stories about First-Time Sex,” “Grandad’s Pride” and “Gender Queer,” along with other books she did not give the titles of.

She said she filed a complaint with the library in 2020 to have “Gender Queer” moved to the adult section of the library. The American Library Association said it was the most banned book of 2022.

Dina Chavez, the former president of the Friends of the Huntington Beach Public Library, said she wasn’t surprised Van Der Mark went after “Gender Queer” and countered the councilmember by saying libraries need to have books available for all types of people in all stages of life.

Councilmember Natalie Moser said the city libraries already have a process in place to have books reviewed and called Van Der Mark’s proposal “an act of erasure.”

“Our libraries provide books that become windows and mirrors for readers,” Moser said.

Mayor Tony Strickland said when he first heard about Van Der Mark’s proposal, he had concerns, but was “floored by what’s in those books.”

Tensions simmered throughout the meeting, with residents focused on Van Der Mark’s proposal to screen out “obscene and pornographic children’s books” from city libraries.

The meeting began at 6 p.m. on Tuesday and public comment lasted well into the night. More than a hundred people spoke and more than 600 emailed comments to the City Council. Strickland pounded his gavel several times throughout the night, demanding the room to calm down.

During her PowerPoint presentation, Van Der Mark read several excerpts from books that she said showed sexually explicit passages and illustrations, some of which she said she found in young adult and children’s sections of the Huntington Beach Public Library.

Some had LGBTQ themes, some covered various sexual topics. Van Der Mark blurred some of the material in her 13-slide presentation.

Huntington Beach resident Laszlo Lak said the material in question “is not something that is uplifting” and a line should be drawn somewhere over what’s appropriate for children to access.

Early in the evening, Councilmember Rhonda Bolton questioned why Van Der Mark had singled out some LGBTQ books. Dozens of speakers brought Pride flags to signal their opposition to the book proposal.

Mark Dixon, a longtime Huntington Beach resident, said elected officials shouldn’t have power over what books are appropriate in libraries.

“I want people who are trained and qualified to select the books for our children to see,” Dixon said.