An Orange County Superior Court judge Friday ruled in favor of a challenge to Huntington Beach’s library restrictions on lending materials to children.
Judge Lindsey E. Martinez rejected the city’s demurrer motion to dismiss the legal challenge from Alianza Translatinx, a nonprofit group for transgender, gender non-conforming and intersex individuals focusing on the Latino community, and a 15-year-old boy and 16-year-old girl who attend school in Huntington Beach as well as the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Southern California and the First Amendment Coalition.
The lawsuit argued the city’s restrictions, which became moot due to voters approving a ballot measure in June, violated the state’s Freedom to Read Act.
City officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The city’s attorneys argued that the legal challenge was not ripe because the city had not implemented the restrictions. But Martinez noted legal precedent prohibits that sort of claim and that the plaintiffs “have indeed alleged facts showing the city began implementing” the restrictions.
Martinez also knocked down the city’s arguments that it is a charter city and therefore has authority to adopt ordinances in conflict with state law. In addition, the judge sidestepped a new claim that the state law violates the Fourteenth Amendment rights of parents to make decisions regarding their children.
“This is new argument in the reply which the court declines to consider,” Martinez wrote in the ruling. “Even if the court were to consider the argument, the argument lacks merits…”
Former UCLA and Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe, who was arrested earlier this year protesting a plaque the city approved at the city library, which prompted his run for state Assembly, praised the ruling.
“Libraries are the backbone of a lot of American social institutions,” Kluwe told City News Service. “It’s important we protect them and keep them apolitical and free from partisan influence.”
Kluwe noted that the June ballot measure “just goes to show that the voters know the law on this one better than our city council members do.”
Erin Spivey, another plaintiff, said in a statement, “The freedom to read is one of the fundamental pillars of democracy, and today democracy won.”
The city had established a 21-member review board to go over what books and materials would be restricted from lending. Any material containing “sexual content” would be placed in the adult section and require a parent to check it out.
“While it is true minors would be able to access the materials with their parents’ consent, the moving of materials to the adult section and the requirement of obtaining parental consent to view those materials itself appears to be an improper limitation on minors’ access to library materials in violation of the Freedom to Read Act,” Martinez wrote.