Do you know what bills are currently sitting in the House Judiciary Committee, awaiting lawmakers; attention? Among the 513 bills, there are dozens of authorizations bills for state agencies and licensing boards; multiple bills related to sex crimes, including ones against children; several bills related to domestic violence; and dozens of others that would impact people’s lives for the better.
Instead of pursuing those, House Judiciary dedicated several hours this past week to debating, then passing HB 4654 — “removing bona fide schools, public libraries, and museums from the list of exemptions from criminal liability relating to distribution and display to minor of obscene matter.” The bill was on third reading in the House of Delegates at the time of this writing.
First, “obscene” is in the eye of the beholder, and West Virginia’s Republican legislators have made clear they define any mention of puberty, genitalia, reproduction, sex or literally anything LGBTQ+ related as “obscene.” (SB 195 would add any depiction of transgender people — explicit or G-rated — to the definition of “obscene” material.)
Removing protections from schools, libraries and museums opens them and their employees to frivolous criminal and civil penalties. Don’t like that painting showing a woman’s breast? Sue the museum! Library has books with two boys kissing? Arrest the staff!
What is acceptable for any specific child is between that child and their guardians, and it the adult’s responsibility to convey to their child what is and isn’t appropriate for them. Just because one parent doesn’t like it doesn’t mean it should be inaccessible to everyone. Some parents intentionally direct their kids to books about puberty and sex education because it’s uncomfortable to talk about, but kids still need to learn.
Second, HB 4654’s sponsor, Delegate Brandon Steele, framed his bill as a fight against pedophilia: “What I hope the chilling effect is of this legislation is to remove the sanctuary for pedophilia that exists in our code. … Regardless of what your title is at your job, you do not get to show pornography to minors.”
This is a common refrain among the far-right. Often the supposedly “pedophilic” or “pornographic” books don’t have pedophilia at all, and if they do contain sexual content, they are often in the teen or adult section anyway.
The vast majority of targeted books are LGBTQ+ related. This is another far-right tactic: Conflate anything LGBTQ+ with pornography or pedophilia.
Statistics show most child sexual abuse victims are female and most abusers are male. We don’t want to ignore same-sex abuse, because it happens. We do, however, want to illustrate why it’s harmful to equate homosexuality with pedophilia: It unfairly villainizes a minority while doing nothing to teach children how to identify and protect themselves from real predators.
Instead of picking on libraries and museums, Steele and his fellow lawmakers could work on legislation that actually protects children — like outlawing child marriage or preventing someone convicted of crimes against children from joining boards of education.
But Steele and his ilk have shown they more concerned with stoking hatred than with protecting kids.
