Photo courtesy of WV Legislative Photography Brian Raitz, director of the Parkersburg & Wood County Public Library, urges members of the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday to reject a bill to remove criminal liability protections for librarians and teachers.

CHARLESTON – Lawmakers could open another front in the culture wars by lifting criminal liability protections for schools and libraries for carrying books some consider obscene.

The House Judiciary Committee was set to take up House Bill 4654 Monday afternoon, but the legislation was removed from the agenda. Instead, the committee hosted a public hearing Wednesday morning in the House chamber to hear from supporters and opponents.

The bill would lift criminal liability exemptions from schools in the presentation of local or state-approved curriculum or public libraries and museums displaying obscene matter to a minor when the child is accompanied by a parent/guardian.

State Code defines obscene matter as anything an average person believes depicts or describes sexually explicit conduct, nudity, sex or certain bodily functions; or anything a reasonable person would find lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value. According to State Code 61-8A-2, any adult who knowingly and intentionally displays obscene matter to a minor could be charged with a felony, fined up to $25,000 and face up to five years in prison if convicted.

Supporters of the bill read experts from books they deemed to be obscene to committee members Wednesday. Wood County resident Jessica Rowley held up the book “Let’s Talk About It” by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan as an example of an obscene book in local schools and libraries. The book is a graphic novel aimed at young people talking in detail about sex and relationships.

“It was in Parkersburg South High School and was put in the library by a high school principal,” Rowley said. “Is this what we want our children to read?”

The book was challenged and removed from the high school library in January 2023, Wood County Schools officials said.

“We have a responsibility to protect our children; a God-given responsibility,” Daniel Curry, a minister at the Camden Avenue Church of Christ in Parkersburg. “I would ask what is the need for obscene matter in schools and libraries?”

According to a 2023 analysis by The Washington Post, seven states have passed similar laws opening employees of public libraries and K-12 school librarians to criminal prosecution for having books deemed offensive and inappropriate for children. Another 20 states considered similar legislation last year.

Committee members heard Wednesday from a number of representatives from the West Virginia Library Association and library officials from around the state. They argued libraries serve their communities and that parents should be the ones to police what their children read, not libraries.

“We protect your freedom; your freedom to read,” said Brian Raitz, director of the Parkersburg & Wood County Public Library. “We believe we should not be that gatekeeper. In order to best serve our community and protect the children there, we believe that the parents have the best ability to do so. In our library, our policies reflect that.”

“We have no pornography available to the minors; our board wants to keep it that way,” said Mike Turner, a board member of the Paden City Public Library. “For our collection, we have a policy in place that goes from cradle to the grave. We take care of it. We don’t need a new law … please don’t do it.”

Other opponents of such legislation believe bills like HB 4654 are aimed at blocking access by children to books and materials talking about LGBTQ issues.

“LGBTQ+ people are not obscene,” said Andrew Schneider, executive director or Fairness West Virginia. “The stories and books about our lives are not obscene. Nothing in HB 4654 changes that. Let’s be clear: This is a bad bill.”

The heads of West Virginia’s two teachers’ unions – Fred Albert with the American Federation of Teachers-West Virginia and Dale Lee with the West Virginia Education Association – also opposed the bill.

“My fear is people won’t want to be part of libraries anymore. People will not want to go, and people will not want to work in libraries,” Lee said. “What are we doing? We’re playing to fear. We’re pushing an agenda that wants to make you afraid of what is going on.”

“Is this happening so frequently that it requires legislation? Is this really a problem in our schools, libraries and museums? Because I don’t hear anything from our teachers and school service personnel who are there every day that this is a frequent issue,” Albert said.

PEN America, an advocacy group that works to protect freedom of expression, recorded more than 3,300 instances of books being banned in public schools and libraries between July 1, 2022, and June 31, 2023.

“These bans removed student access to 1,557 unique book titles, the works of over 1,480 authors, illustrators and translators. Authors whose books are targeted are most frequently female, people of color and/or LGBTQ+ individuals,” according to PEN America’s annual report, titled, “Banned in the USA: The Mounting Pressure to Censor.”

“Punitive state laws, coupled with pressure from vocal citizens and local and national groups, have created difficult dilemmas for school districts, forcing them to either restrict access to books or risk penalties for educators and librarians,” the report continued. “Sixty-three percent of all book bans occurred in eight states with legislation that has either directly facilitated book bans or created the conditions for local groups to pressure and intimidate educators and librarians into removing books.”

Steve Radabaugh, who spoke in favor of the bill, disagreed with PEN America’s report, accusing the group and media of fabricating a narrative.

“We found (that) while some parents have objected to books about race, school districts seldom oblige that objection,” he said. “Are school libraries banning thousands of books? This is why you shouldn’t trust the left’s narrative.”