Georgia librarians could face criminal charges for ‘harmful materials’ 

Librarians and education advocates are warning that a bill moving through the state Legislature could cause Georgia’s librarians to self-censor controversial materials and lead to more challenges on books about LGBTQ people or issues. Senate Bill 74, sponsored by Sylvania Republican Sen. Max Burns, changes an exemption in state law dealing with the distribution of […]

A new bill aims to take "pornography" out of library children's sections. Critics call it a fake problem. Getty Images

Librarians and education advocates are warning that a bill moving through the state Legislature could cause Georgia’s librarians to self-censor controversial materials and lead to more challenges on books about LGBTQ people or issues.

Senate Bill 74, sponsored by Sylvania Republican Sen. Max Burns, changes an exemption in state law dealing with the distribution of harmful materials to minors.

Today, the state exempts public and school or university libraries from the ban on distributing obscene media to people under 18. If Burns’ bill becomes law, one would only be exempt if they were not aware of the harmful material, had previously suggested the material be challenged as obscene or had suggested to have the materials moved to an area of the library not accessible to minors.

Distributing harmful materials to minors is a high and aggravated misdemeanor.

The bill passed a House subcommittee along party lines Tuesday and could be teed up for a vote from the full committee soon. A different version of the bill passed the Senate last year.

“I recognize that there are some really strong emotional positions,” Burns told reporters after the vote. “At the end of the day, the objective is to protect Georgia’s children. The objective is to ensure that the materials that could be harmful or obscene are placed in adult sections. And we’re asking our professionals, our librarians and our library staff to comply with Georgia law. I have to comply with Georgia law and you have to comply with Georgia law. This is not overreach. This is simple reality that says ‘I’m responsible to protect children.’”

The bill has the backing of conservative groups like the Georgia Baptist Mission Board.

Mission board lobbyist Mike Griffin called the effort a “no-brainer” bill to keep pornography away from children.

“Kids are being exposed to pornography at such an early age, don’t be surprised that what they see or what they’re hearing in these education classes, they’re going to try it on somebody else,” he said.

“It’s so very important that we deal with limiting these types of access because it’s creating perpetrators that are out there, they’re trying to go after kids,” he added. “It’s kids that are messing with other kids, and it’s just having such a negative impact on our society, so it’s very important that we stand up and we support this.”

Georgia librarians came out to the hearing in force and expressed outrage at the idea that they would distribute pornography to children.

“Georgia libraries do not purchase obscene materials,” said Mike Cooper, trustee of the DeKalb County Library System and president of the Friends of the Stone Mountain Sue Kellogg Library.

But Cooper said he opposes the bill because he said it will cause librarians fearful of legal consequences to bend to pressure from those who find fault with books on their shelves.

“Let’s say somebody hears somebody make a criticism of a book,” he said. “It is almost incumbent on the employee then to say, ‘Oh, we’re going to have trouble with that book. I think it needs to be investigated, and it needs to go before a review committee,’ or it needs to be removed, or whatever. That process has to be started by a librarian in a defensive posture.”

Georgia’s definition of sexual conduct includes the word “homosexuality.”

Mikayla Arciaga, Georgia advocacy director at the Intercultural Development Research Association, a non-profit educational advocacy group, said that could lead to books with passing references to LGBTQ characters to accusations of obscenity.

“Our major concern is this inclusion of homosexuality as a blanket term for sexual conduct,” she said. “Our understanding is that this definition, as written, would apply to any act of homosexuality in media or literature, not just intercourse, but two men holding hands in a picture book or two women kissing while making dinner in a chapter book. And our concern is that this definition would unintentionally capture an entire aspect of literature that I don’t think is the full intention of this body or the author.”

Speaking to reporters after the vote, Burns suggested that such a book could be flagged as obscene if his bill became law.

“(The bill) did not address any of the underlying obscenity laws in Georgia,” he said. “That would be a discussion for a different bill and a different legislation. Do they need to be updated? Perhaps, but that’s got to be a discussion for another piece of legislation.”

“It’s not like I’m picking on anybody,” he added. “I’m asking everyone to be consistent in following the current law. Laws change all the time.”

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