Huntington Beach teenagers part of group suing city over library policies

Huntington Beach is being sued by three of its own residents, along with an Orange County-based community group, over its controversial library policies.

A lawsuit was filed in Orange County Superior Court on Wednesday by the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, the First Amendment Coalition, Community Legal Aid SoCal and Jenner & Block, LLP. It alleges that Huntington Beach is violating the 2024 California Freedom to Read Act, as well as the California Constitution, with policies including a parent/guardian children’s book review board.

Alianza Translatinx, which describes itself as the first transgender-led organization by transgender people of color in Orange County, is one of the suit’s plaintiffs. Two Huntington Beach teenagers are also listed as plaintiffs, along with Erin Spivey, a librarian.

“Libraries should reflect, not erase, and be spaces where young people can discover who they are,” said Khloe Rios-Wyatt, founding member and chief executive officer of Alianza Translatinx, in a statement. “Huntington Beach officials, driven by fear of challenging ideas, are trying to erase stories and identities — but we refuse to be erased.”

In June 2023, the Huntington Beach City Council first brought forward the idea of making books deemed obscene and/or pornographic inaccessible to children. It’s long been a passion project of Councilwoman Gracey Van Der Mark, who introduced the item, and Resolution No. 2023-41 was passed by a split 4-3 council vote.

“Parents, check these books out,” Van Der Mark said at the time. “If this is what you want for your kids, go for it, but a lot of parents don’t know this material is in these books. A lot of parents don’t know these books are in the library.”

On Feb. 7, 2024, librarians began moving some books from the children’s section on the first floor to an “adult” section on the fourth floor.

The children’s section of the Huntington Beach Central Library, pictured in February 2024.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

The parent/guardian children’s book advisory board, which would feature up to 21 residents appointed by council members, was established as Ordinance No. 4318. It would review new children’s library books that it deems possibly inappropriate, potentially stopping them from going into circulation, as well as having the power to move other books into the adult section.

Per the ordinance, “children” means people under the age of 18 years old.

The review board itself has yet to have meetings or even be named.

Huntington Beach Mayor Pat Burns said in a statement Wednesday that he disagrees with claims made in an ACLU press release about the lawsuit, adding that the city had not yet been served with it.

“The city has maintained its stance that no books have been banned or removed from the library,” Burns said. “The safety, wellness and protection of our community, children and library patrons remains our primary goal. We will not be deterred by this lawsuit in maintaining this goal, and the city attorney’s office intends to aggressively defend our city’s best interests.”

The plaintiffs say the presence of “sexual content” is an overly broad term that could suppress literary classics like “1984,” “Romeo and Juliet” and “The Great Gatsby,” along with science and health books, youth Bibles and books that highlight “lived experiences of the LGBTQ+ community.”

One of the teenage plaintiffs, identified only as H.P. in the complaint, is a junior at Huntington Beach High School. She said some of her favorite books and school-assigned reading would contain “sexual content” and thus be subject to censorship if the library measures were fully implemented.

“H.P.’s rights are infringed by the library measures because they deprive her of access to materials that she would like to skim, read, or check out that would be available to her but for the library measures,” the complaint reads. “Her privacy rights are also infringed because the library measures will require her to share access to her patron record with her parents to obtain or even browse materials from the new “adult-only” section of the library. Before the library measures were enacted, H.P. could access such materials without her parents’ knowledge or consent, and she valued this privacy.”

The lawsuit comes days before the Huntington Beach City Council is due to make a decision about two library initiatives, including one that seeks to have Surf City voters repeal the parent/guardian review board. On Tuesday night, the council is expected to decide whether the initiatives would be on a special election ballot later this year or on the 2026 general election ballot.