Greenville County Library (SC) wants to remove trans books from YA section
The Greenville County Library, which has 12 locations in and around the Greenville, South Carolina metropolitan area, is seriously considering removing all books featuring transgender characters from its youth sections.
The public library system has been among the most prolific in the area of censorship since the rise of the moral panic over books in 2021. They have tried to convince the city council to take over decisions about the library collection, a resolution that did not pass, but they have succeeded by using recommendations from the Materials Review Committee to move books with LGBTQ+ themes to new areas of the library, as well as moving entire sections of the library in and of themselves. Notably, books in the Parenting and Early Childhood collections were moved from areas near young adult sections to adult nonfiction sections. At least three books with LGBTQ+ themes were also moved from the areas of the library that met the needs of their target audience to less accessible areas. The chair of the county library board has also contributed to a hostile work environment in the system. The Greenville County library system has received complaints about Pride displays, resulting in them being removed and banned altogether. In October 2023, the board voted to remove all exhibits from county libraries unless they were paid library and city government holidays.
In March of last year, the library board decided to remove all books with transgender themes from the youth sections. They were moved to the parental shelves mentioned above and are only accessible to adult users or youth whose parents have given them explicit access. In the libraries that did not have such sections, the books were moved to a facility that has them, making them inaccessible without either visiting another library branch or requesting an interlibrary loan.
Now, the Materials Review Committee has recommended that the board remove all transgender books from the young adult sections as well. Any books that feature a character who has transitioned from one gender to another, or is in the process of transitioning, will be moved to the adult section. This applies to both written text and illustrations, and will likely include books that address topics such as pronouns or drag, as was the case with the ban on trans books for under-12s.
The recommendation will be forwarded to the full Library Board, which was receptive to the changes previously presented. At least one Library Board member believes the change would be in line with South Carolina’s new budget clause, which says no public libraries can receive state funding if they display materials that appeal to prurient interests to anyone under 17. Which of all young adult books featuring transgender characters fall into the prurient interests category is a question best left to those fixated on a strange and false narrative about what gender means.
If the committee adopts the recommendation, all young adult books that fall into the “trans” category would be moved to the adult section, making them completely off-limits to anyone under 18 unless they have a library card that allows them to borrow material from all areas of the library, which requires parent/guardian permission on the library card application.
As always with such authorizations, those who are most harmed are those who need these books the most. Young people who use the library often do so without their parents, and those whose parents cannot make it to the library to update their library cards or apply for new ones are unable to borrow books that describe their experiences and the experiences of people they likely interact with on a daily basis.
If the bill passes, so-called transgender books will no longer be available to browse or borrow in the youth and young adult sections of the entire county library system.
The Greenville County Library Board will meet at noon on Monday, August 26, in Meeting Room C of the Hughes Main Library. A complete timeline of events surrounding the ongoing censorship of the public library is available here, compiled by the local Freedom in Libraries Advocacy Group, which is campaigning against the discriminatory changes.
