A youth-restricted area containing books Huntington Beach city leaders deemed too obscene for children remains at its Central Library despite a judicial order to eliminate the section.

In 2023, the City Council ordered librarians to move materials with “sexual content” from the children’s section to the youth-restricted area on the fourth floor of the library. The action met stiff resistance, leading the American Civil Liberties Union to join a lawsuit filed by residents, including former librarian Erin Spivey, who left her job following the order.

“The instructions we expect the city to follow are returning the books to the children’s section, taking down the signs about restricted books, establishing the teen section and making sure that employees are protected from any pushback from the City Council,” Spivey said.

Spivey’s lawsuit accused city leaders of a censorship scheme that violates California’s Freedom to Read Act, which prohibits removing public library books from shelves solely because of their content. The judge ruled in her favor in September. The city filed an objection to the judge’s order to move the books. 

Huntington Beach’s Susie and Tom Davidson consider themselves to be conservative and are against kids having access to sexual material, yet they want the city to comply with the judge’s order.  

“I just think they kinda jumped the gun on all the restrictions,” Susie Davison said. “Now, they’re finding out that it’s not working, but they should be listening to the government and let’s get it back in there.”

The city said it will discuss the issue during a closed session meeting, but couldn’t comment further. 

In June, voters rejected Huntington Beach’s library review board and approved a measure to eliminate the panel. 

In the weeks leading up to the special election, Councilman Chad Williams‘ political action committee paid for “Protect Our Kids from Porn” signs to be placed across Huntington Beach, sparking outrage from some parents. 

Williams claimed the city’s libraries contained pornographic content. It’s a similar allegation made by the former mayor, which led the council to approve an appointed committee to oversee which books are allowed in the children’s section.   

“Children should not have access to these books,” said former Mayor Gracey Van der Mark. “If you’re an adult go for it; you can read whatever you want. But, it is our job and our responsibility to protect children from material that could be harmful for them and if they’re not mentally mature enough to read these books we shouldn’t be exposing them and only the parents can decide that. The government should not be deciding if this is appropriate for their children.”