SC senators agree to restrict children’s access to ‘prurient’ books

(File/Getty Images)

COLUMBIA — County libraries would have to restrict children’s access to sexual books under a budget directive approved by the South Carolina Senate and opposed by librarians as overstepping local control.

The proposal aims to prevent children and teens from picking up sexually explicit books in their local library without their parents’ consent.

The directive is tied to state funding. In order to get their share, county libraries would need to certify that books appealing to children’s “prurient interest” don’t appear on the shelves in children and teen sections in any of their branches.

Sen. Josh Kimbrell talks during a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting in Columbia, S.C. on March 15, 2022. (File/Travis Bell/STATEHOUSE CAROLINA/Special to the SC Daily Gazette)

Sen. Josh Kimbrell argued parents should know what their children are checking out. His proposal would allow minors under 17 to access such books if their parents approve.

“It doesn’t ban a book, doesn’t say books can’t be present, doesn’t say you can’t have a book there. It just says you can’t allow these materials to be readily available to a minor whenever there’s not parental consent,” Kimbrell, R-Boiling Springs, told his fellow senators last Tuesday before they adopted his amendment.

He used the term “prurient interest” to match up with what’s already in state law. As defined in the section that makes child pornography and exploitation illegal, “prurient interest” is nudity or sex that arouses “lewd and lascivious desires and thoughts.”

Defining ‘prurient’

State law provides this definition in the section that criminalizes giving or promoting obscenity harmful to minors:

• “Prurient interest” means a shameful or morbid interest in nudity, sex, or excretion and is reflective of an arousal of lewd and lascivious desires and thoughts.

The directive is almost identical to Kimbrell’s proposal two years ago, with one major difference: Teenagers are included too. His unsuccessful attempt in 2022 required parental consent for children under 13.

That proposal was also adopted by the Senate but didn’t make the final version of the budget.

The House removed it after an email blast from the Richland County library director — who was also then-president of the national Public Library Association — urged readers statewide to contact their local House member and ask them to “protect the freedom to read for all South Carolinians.”

Whether Kimbrell’s proposal becomes law through the state budget is again up to the House.

Sen. Tameika Isaac Devine, D-Columbia, tried unsuccessfully to keep it out of the Senate version, first by lowering the age of consent to youth under 16, then by rejecting it altogether.

South Carolina’s newest state senator, Tameika Isaac Devine, introduced Vice President Kamala Harris, who gave the keynote address at King Day at the Dome on Monday, Jan. 15, 2024, in Columbia, S.C. (File/Mary Ann Chastain/Special to the SC Daily Gazette)

“I don’t disagree with parental consent,” she said. “I have young children myself, but I’m trying to think logistically, and I don’t want our county libraries to be penalized.”

Her motion failed 32-9. Four Democrats joined Republicans in voting to keep Kimbrell’s directive.

Part of librarians’ opposition then was that children and teen sections in libraries, particularly in small branches, can be the same area, making a ban for children’s shelves impractical.

Devin argued children and teens could still get a book from the adult sections.

Kimbrell countered his proposal does not penalize libraries if a child manages to get a restricted book. But libraries need to try to keep sexually explicit books from children, he said.

“However they want to do it, they want to put it behind the counter, if they want to put it in the parent section, whatever they choose to do to make sure there’s parental consent involved,” Kimbrell said. “The idea would be it should not be sitting out in the open.”

Devine, the state’s newest senator, also repeated arguments from two years ago that the directive is too broad. It doesn’t specify what counts as “explicit parental consent” or whether a guardian who’s not a parent can give it.

“There’s just too much ambiguity in this,” she said.

Angela Craig, director of the Charleston County Public Library, called the proposal an unnecessary attempt to take local control away from county library boards that set policies for their branches.

“Many librarians are parents and caregivers. I mean, I’m a parent and caregiver,” said Craig, who’s also president of the South Carolina Library Association. “We completely understand that parents want to have the right to control what their kids have access to.”

But “our collection is calibrated and very thoughtful to the community and guided by these local policies, by local representation from the community,” she said.

Craig also repeated that the language is too vague and open to interpretation, which could cause trouble for employees if someone finds a book objectionable for whatever reason. Local policies already address what are appropriate books, she said.

“We do not have books of prurient nature in our collection,” she said.

Craig said many librarians are reaching out to their representatives to again explain their concerns.

Kimbrell thinks his proposal stands a better chance this year of making it to Gov. Henry McMaster’s desk as part of the final budget.

Two years ago, his colleagues dismissed his proposal as addressing a nonexistent issue in South Carolina. But he said more legislators are getting complaints from constituents about books in their local libraries.

The House has also changed, as the chamber’s ultraconservative Freedom Caucus has pushed the chamber further to the right on social issues since the 2022 elections.

The post SC senators agree to restrict children’s access to ‘prurient’ books appeared first on SC Daily Gazette.