South Carolina school librarians, college and university librarians, and public librarians as well as museum staff are under attack in the state legislature. House Bill 3826 would subject every employee of these libraries and museums to criminal prosecution under obscenity laws for any books, ebooks, and educational resources in their library. Plus, the law would limit the exemptions from prosecution in schools to only "teaching of a sex education program or human biology curriculum" which means that art teachers and AP classes with difficult topics could be prosecuted. 

House Bill 3826 looks to make those public sector workers and educators subject to a Felony under obscenity law. They could be targets of spurious and costly lawsuits over anything a person might find “obscene”, from classic literature to anatomy textbooks. Libraries and schools have never been targeted like this under obscenity laws in South Carolina. This new law would be politically motivated overreach.

Award-winning authors like Margaret Atwood, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and James Joyce have been caught in the crosshairs of ‘obscenity’ challenges. Even Winnie the Pooh was called into question for not wearing pants. Groups like Moms for Liberty have gone after books about Seahorses, Johnny Appleseed, and hurricanes. It is unreasonable to make criminals out of our librarians, educators, and museum professionals based on the political whims of political parties and organizations.

We need people like you to tell your state Representative to stop this bill before it goes any further. Please join the South Carolina Library Association, the South Carolina Association of School Librarians, and EveryLibrary in opposing HB3826. Please send a message today.