Judge rules against Crawford County Library’s ‘social section’ censorship

U.S. District Judge P.K. Holmes III ruled against Crawford County in a First Amendment lawsuit regarding the removal and relocation of books largely because of objections from citizens to LGBTQ content.

In his ruling, issued Monday (Sept. 30), Holmes said the books in question are to be returned to their original locations in the county’s libraries. (Link here for the ruling.)

Attorney Brian Meadors filed a federal complaint May 30, 2023, against book censorship actions by the Crawford County Public Library System. The Crawford County Library earlier in 2023 approved the relocation of books largely with LGBTQ content. Attorneys representing the Crawford County Library System argued that the relocation of LGBTQ books was not a First Amendment violation and instead “strikes a balance” that is “constitutionally compliant” and meets the standards of the community.

Meadors and attorney Terrance Cain on Feb. 18 filed a summary judgment request on behalf of Crawford County citizen Rebecka Virden. Meadors said in the filing that the Crawford County case is similar to a 2000 lawsuit (Sund v. City of Wichita Falls, Tex.) in Texas. That case resulted in a federal court overturning all actions to relocate and remove LGBTQ books from a public library.

‘PROGRESSIVE WOKE IDEOLOGY’
The controversy began in November 2022 when Tammy Hamby and her husband Dr. Jeffrey Hamby, a Van Buren family physician, worked with the River Valley City Elders to lead a campaign against LBGQT+ books then available through the library system. Tammy Hamby would be appointed to the Crawford County Library Board by Crawford County Judge Chris Keith and named the board chair, a position she held for a year. Keith Pigg was elected by the other members of the Crawford County Library Board as the chair in January. Hamby remains on the board.

In his decision, Holmes states that the “Court finds that even when the evidentiary record is construed in the light most favorable to the Defendants, it is indisputable that the creation and maintenance of the social section was motivated in substantial part by a desire to impede users’ access to books containing viewpoints that are unpopular or controversial in Crawford County.”

The findings reference the letter sent by the Hamby’s expressed concern “about the agenda that is being pushed by the Van Buren Public Library, aiming education of alternative lifestyles to prepubescent children” – in particular, the “progressive woke ideology normalizing and equating homosexual and transsexual lifestyles with heterosexual family units.”

The Hamby letter to Crawford County officials said they “are responsible for hiring people to represent the values of our community,” and ultimately concluded: “We are asking you to take the steps needed to ensure that this agenda is not sponsored by our tax money.”

VIEWPOINT DISCRIMINATION
Holmes wrote that in her deposition, Tammy Hamby explained that the agenda her letter referred to was “an agenda of nontraditional values,” which include showing homosexual relationships as typical or “[t]he idea of transgender.” Kaelin Schaper, another member of the board, stated that the books were placed in the social section because the community considered them inappropriate for the children’s section because they contained content “that emphasized sexuality.” He testified that by emphasizing sexuality, he was referring to normaliz[ing] homosexual relationships and other reasons.

“The fact that viewpoint discrimination was a substantial motive for the creation and maintenance of the social section has profound First Amendment implications. After all, ‘if there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable,’” Holmes noted.

Holmes said it is unquestionably true that the First Amendment permits public libraries to restrict minors’ access to materials that are not age-appropriate, but while those restrictions will inevitably be content-based, they must still be “viewpoint-neutral.”

“In other words, for First Amendment purposes it is one thing to restrict minors’ access to sexually explicit material, but a very different thing to restrict minors’ access to unpopular opinions. Here, the undisputed evidence shows that the social section was created not only for the former purpose but also for the latter, which violates the First Amendment,” Holmes wrote.

He ordered that that the social section be eliminated and the materials contained within it be moved to appropriate sections in general circulation without consideration of whether viewpoints expressed in such materials are unpopular or controversial.

“The Court will further order that Defendants refrain from coercing Library staff into violating this injunction,” the order states.

‘ACTIVELY COMPLYING’
On Tuesday (Oct. 1), Charlene McDonnough, library systems director for the Crawford County Library System, said the staff had just learned of the decision and intend to comply with the court order.

“I have been instructed by the library board to comply immediately. The Crawford County Library staff has continued to the best of their ability to provide library services for all citizens in Crawford County throughout this time. They have stepped up and shown up and continued to serve with extreme professionalism,” McDonnough said.

She said library staff at each location in the system began moving the books as they arrived at their facilities Tuesday morning.

“Currently all five libraries are actively complying with this ruling. The placement of the books back in their original locations will take a little time as new spine labels will need to be created for many of them and the cataloging documents need to be returned to their original formatting, removing the ‘Social Section’ cataloging information,” McDonnough said.

LEGAL COSTS
Crawford County Judge Chris Keith did not respond to questions on whether the county would attempt to appeal Holmes’ ruling.

As of Aug. 20, the county has spent $219,605.05 in legal fees on the lawsuit. At that time, the county had also spent $165,696.06 on a related Act 372 suit.

On June 2, 2023, several Arkansas libraries and library associations filed a lawsuit in the Fayetteville Division of the Western District Court of Arkansas against Crawford County officials and state prosecuting attorneys to overturn Act 372. The Act allows books in public libraries to be banned or relocated. U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Brooks granted a preliminary injunction in July 2023 against the act’s implementation, which was set to go into effect Aug. 1, 2023.

Under pressure from those opposing LBGTQ+ books, then Crawford County Library Director Diedre Gryzmala resigned in February 2023 with a $40,687.50 severance deal, which added to the county’s cost on the matter.