Lewiston library gets letter from GOP group

Children’s access to content deemed harmful has dominated discussions at both local library district meetings and legislative hearings at the Idaho Capitol for the past couple of years. And the discourse is unlikely to slow down soon.

The Lewiston City Library in October received a copy of a resolution signed by the Nez Perce County Republican Women’s Club stating its support for, “legislation that would restrict and/or prohibit children’s access to age-inappropriate, obscene, and harmful materials meant to confuse and sexualize children in public and school libraries,” according to the resolution obtained via public records request.

The resolution also cited the Idaho GOP platform that states, “We believe biological gender to be an essential characteristic of a child’s identity and purpose. We call upon parents, responsible citizens, and officers of government to promote measures that respect and protect the biological gender of children. We strongly oppose any person, entity, or policy that attempts to confuse minors regarding their biological gender.”

Library Director Lynn Johnson said, other than the emailed resolution, the library hasn’t received any formal complaints about books regarding themes of sexuality or gender.

“To be honest, we’ve had more positive feedback from community members than negative,” Johnson said.

Nez Perce Republican Women’s Club President Heather Moore said the resolution was also sent to the Lewiston school board.

“Nez Perce County Republican Women’s Club is dedicated to educating the community, and supporting good legislation and good government,” she wrote in an emailed statement. “We support legislation that protects the innocence of children by restricting harmful, age inappropriate, sexually explicit materials available to minors using taxpayer funding and without parental consent. We do not want to ban books or restrict parental rights. We support libraries as wonderful places of learning, and we want to ensure that schools and libraries are safe places for our children to learn and grow.”

Last session, the Legislature passed the controversial “harmful materials in libraries” bill, HB 314, but Gov. Brad Little vetoed it.

The bill would have allowed individuals to sue libraries and school districts if minors had access to “harmful materials.” In 2022, the House passed HB 666, which would have criminalized individual librarians for allowing minors access to these materials.

Rep. Julie Yamamoto, R-Caldwell, who chairs the House Education committee, said she knows a couple proposals on the subject will come forward again next session, which begins in January. She said another version of HB 314 will probably come forward. The other proposal, she said, is supported by libraries and will clarify procedures for local library districts if a book is challenged. She hasn’t seen either proposal yet.

Her issue with HB 314, and the governor’s when he vetoed it, was primarily the civil enforcement mechanism allowing individuals to sue.

“Frankly, none of them want to be in the precarious position of being sued and none of them want to be handing out anything that’s pornographic or obscene ever,” she said.

Yamamoto faced significant backlash from some for her opposition to HB 314, but said in response that while she wants harmful materials to stay out of kids’ hands, she also wants to maintain local and parental control.

“The conservative value has always been local control of the government closest to the people,” she said.

Similarly to Lewiston, Yamamoto said Caldwell’s library hadn’t had formal complaints about its books either.

The sponsor of the library bill, Rep. Jaron Crane, R-Nampa, didn’t respond to a request for comment by press time.

Johnson said the Lewiston library uses standard professional journals to review materials to put in its collection and will look into key words from the vendor to indicate where books should go in the library.

A category that’s been gaining traction is the “new adult” genre, which are books aimed at people in their 20s.

“As time goes on, literature language develops,” she said. “And we’re trying to stay abreast to that and adjust, making our collection really user-friendly.”

In July, the Boundary County Library announced it would create a new adult section in response to a reconsideration hearing for the book “Me, Earl and the Dying Girl,” the Bonners Ferry Herald reported.

The library board also said it would audit the young adult section for materials that explore more adult themes and would fit better in the new category.

Johnson said Lewiston, like most libraries, also has a book challenge process in which a review committee would assess a piece of work as a whole and then make a recommendation to the library board.

She said libraries also strive to help people both find what they’re looking for and avoid what they don’t want to see.

Moore said that her Republican women’s club was the first one in Idaho to sign such a resolution, but the group shared it with others in the state.

The topic of restricting access to books has come up in library and school districts across the state. The Nampa School District voted last year to remove 22 books from its shelves, including popular literary novels such as “The Handmaid’s Tale,” by Margaret Atwood and “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison, as well as a puberty book, “It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health,” by Robie H. Harris.

A group of people in Meridian unsuccessfully petitioned Ada County to dissolve the Meridian Library District in February over concerns of access to inappropriate books.

Many of the books challenged and removed feature LGBTQ characters.

Some who opposed HB 314 were concerned that it defined “sexual conduct” as “any act” of homosexuality.

Johnson said in Lewiston, the only book challenge the library had received was because someone thought it was inappropriate for an antique book to include Black Americana in it. The review committee and board decided to keep the book on the shelves.

She hasn’t received complaints about books featuring gay or transgender characters.

“I think, just in our community, we have felt pretty supported,” she said. “And we always want to make sure that patrons are finding what they need.”

Guido covers Idaho politics for the Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News and Idaho Press of Nampa. She may be contacted at lguido@idahopress.com and can be found on Twitter @EyeOnBoiseGuido.