Update: Following some amendments to the proposal, on November 27, the same groups sent this letter to the Board of Supervisors advising them that the amended ordinance was still unconstitutional. The letter states: “The Amended Resolution is just as invasive, just as overbroad, just as vague, and just as unnecessary” as the original resolution.
Today with the ACLU of Northern California, Freedom to Read Foundation, and PEN America, FAC sent a letter to the Fresno County Board of Supervisors urging them to reject the “Resolution Establishing a ‘Parents Matter’ Approach to Reviewing Age-Appropriate Children’s Books in Fresno County Libraries.” The resolution would make children’s books and other materials with allegedly “age-inappropriate content” off-limits to anyone under 18 without “parental or guardian consent.”
As the letter states, the resolution “transforms the government into both nanny and censor while perverting the public’s civil liberties. The government has no business interfering with the decisions of young people and their families about what library books to read.”