We continue to see disturbing attacks on separation of church and state in Washington, D.C., and in many state legislatures. But here’s some good news: At the local level, people are fighting back – and winning.
Consider the story of Huntington Beach, Calif. Since 2023, this city of about 190,000 residents south of Los Angeles has been roiled by a dispute over books in its public library. In a recent special election, voters made it clear that they’re tired of the bickering – and they don’t support censorship.
The website CalMatters reported that problems in the community started a few years ago when a new faction gained power on the city council and an especially vocal member, Gracey Van Der Mark, “made it her cause célèbre to get what she deems sexual content out of the children’s section.”
Inflaming public opinion was part of the plan.
“Over the past year, the conservative-majority City Council took aggressive steps to align library services with partisan politics,” reported the group EveryLibrary. “Council members openly campaigned from the pulpits of local churches, urging congregants to vote against the measures and warning of ‘pornographic books’ in the children’s section – a claim that local librarians and parent advocates strongly rejected.”
Charges were soon swirling that the library housed “pornography,” and signs reading “Protect Our Kids From Porn” began popping up around town. This is a familiar Christian Nationalist stunt. In fact, the books they targeted were LGBTQ+ themed or discussed sex in a factual, instructive way; none would legally be considered obscene.
Two books targeted in Huntington Beach, for example, were tomes for children that contained LGBTQ+ characters. Another book, It’s Perfectly Normal, written for preadolescent children, is a common target by censorship advocates because of its frank and accurate discussion of how bodies change during puberty.
The city council created a 21-member “review panel” to screen books and place some titles on limited access. Anti-censorship advocates argued that the council should stick to traditional issues like taxes, road repair, crime and so on and stay out of the library’s business. But town residents did more than complain – they arranged to put the matter on the ballot.
Pro-censorship forces ramped up their incendiary rhetoric, but it didn’t work. On June 10, voters went to the polls and passed two measures designed to protect the libraries. Measure A, which requires the city to shut down the review board, passed with more than 58% of the vote. Measure B, which requires that the city’s libraries remain public and bars privatization, passed with more than 60%.
Christian Nationalists may have a friend in the White House, a sympathetic Congress and a Supreme Court on their side. But increasingly, we’re seeing they lack something important: the support of the people. Growing numbers of Americans are alarmed by their theocratic schemes.
Voters in Huntington Beach made that clear. Here’s hoping lots of other communities follow suit.
