Huntington Beach leaders respond to ACLU library lawsuit, set special election
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Huntington Beach leaders announced Tuesday their plans to fight a lawsuit filed last week that calls some of their recent controversial library policies unconstitutional and in violation of state law.
Mayor Pat Burns and City Council members Gracey Van Der Mark and Chad Williams spoke at a press conference inside the council chambers, which was filled with many of their raucous supporters.
“Not a single book has been banned in the Huntington Beach library,” Williams said. “The ACLU has gotten involved in a lawsuit over a book ban that does not exist. The ACLU claims to be fighting for the right to read, but what they’re really fighting for is to strip parents of their right to decide what is appropriate for their own children … They don’t want Mom and Dad to have a say in what’s appropriate for their own children.”
But Erin Spivey, a former librarian in the Huntington Beach Public Library and plaintiff in the lawsuit, noted that the library already has a challenge system in place. Van Der Mark used it herself in 2020 to file a complaint about the book “Gender Queer,” which was subsequently moved from the young adult section to the adult section.
“Chad said he wants to have the right to choose books for his child,” Spivey said in a Wednesday interview. “Well, he can do that right now. Nobody is stopping him from choosing the books that he feels are best for his family.”
Plaintiffs for the lawsuit include the nonprofit group Alianza Translatinx, two Huntington Beach High School students and Spivey. The American Civil Liberties Foundation of Southern California is not a plaintiff, but is listed as one of the legal supporters.
Burns, Van Der Mark and Williams stood in front of a large board covered by a black cloth as they spoke at Tuesday’s press conference. At one point, Williams led the crowd in chants of “USA!”
“If the state refuses to protect our children, we will do it ourselves,” Van Der Mark said. “We will not stand by while modern public libraries become distribution centers for sexually explicit material, under the guise of inclusivity and education. We will take action locally, legally and decisively to protect the children in our community.”
At the end of the press conference they revealed the board, with what Van Der Mark said are examples of sexual acts and dialogue that are available in the children’s and teen sections of the Huntington Beach Public Library.
Surf City citizens will be able to decide soon if they want to repeal the council’s parent/guardian children’s book review board, or require a public vote before any possible future attempts to outsource library services. At Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, the panel set a special election date of June 10 for the two ordinances, rather than adopting them outright or adding them to the general election in 2026.
According to a staff report, the special election would cost an estimated $1,190,478 to $1,315,405.
The lawsuit filed against the city alleges that the city is violating both the California Constitution and the 2024 California Freedom to Read Act with library policies including the moving of books with “sexual content” to a restricted adult section and the formation of the book review board.
The review board was officially adopted in April 2024, a few weeks after librarians began moving books in the Central Library from the children’s section per city instructions, but it has still yet to be established.
Spivey said she worked for the Huntington Beach library for about two years after spending nearly a decade as a librarian in the Fountain Valley School District.
As soon as the city started changing library policies, she started looking for another job. Many of her colleagues did the same, she said.
“I refuse to be a part of a system that censors books,” said Spivey, who has three children aging from 5 to 15. “Just because you don’t take them out of the building and throw them in a bonfire, that doesn’t mean it’s not a ban. If you have signs up in front of these books that say, ‘No one can have access to these books unless you’re an adult,’ that is censorship right there.”
Spivey estimated that about 75% of the staff of librarians who were there prior to the council’s restrictions has left. That includes the director, manager and three senior librarians who each served as department heads.
“Every single one of those people from when the library was first hit with these ordinances is gone,” Spivey said. “All of them are gone.”
She said the situation is sad on many levels. Many in the community now have a negative view of the library, which cannot offer the depth of services it did previously, she said. Also, the librarians themselves have been targets of hatred and ire.
“The thing I am proud about is that despite this recent wave of censorship, libraries have still stood the test of time,” Spivey said. “They continue to win in the court. Feelings and trends come and go, but the Constitution is forever. We the people — and children also — have constitutional rights.”
Williams, part of the “HB3” elected in November to form an all-MAGA City Council, said at the press conference that the material was still in the library but needed to be accessed with parental approval. He compared it to needing approval to go on a field trip or to see an R-rated movie.
“It’s about being a defender of the defenseless,” Williams said. “Our national motto is ‘In God We Trust.’ We say things like ‘May God bless America,’ and I shudder to think what he thinks when he looks down, to even see that this is a debate.”
In a press release announcing the lawsuit last week, the ALCU said that “Everyone Poops,” the general science book “The Way We Work: Getting to Know the Amazing Human Body” and “Your One and Only Heart” were among the books that were moved.
Van Der Mark said Tuesday that those books had been moved but were returned to the children’s section upon further review.
“We’d rather err on the side of caution than risk hurting a child accidentally,” she said.
“The Way We Work: Getting to Know the Amazing Human Body” was still on the most recent list of relocated books published online by the library in December, along with six other titles.
Jonathan Markovitz, senior staff attorney at the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, said that although the city may have moved books back to the children’s section, Resolution No. 2023-41 still requires that any books with “sexual content” be recatalogued in adult-only sections of the library.
“Huntington Beach always intended the new measures to be a censorship regime,” Markovitz said in a statement. “It engaged in censorship the first day that the policies were implemented. And the ordinance requiring the creation of a review board is an open invitation to continue censoring ideas that the city disagrees with going forward.
“Libraries should be a safe and welcoming place where people of all ages can learn about themselves, others and the world around them. Huntington Beach’s library measures threaten to shut down these opportunities. Fortunately, the Freedom to Read Act and the California Constitution prevent them from doing so.”
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