Greenville County Library, which has 12 locations in and around the Greenville, South Carolina, metropolitan area, is giving serious consideration to removing all books featuring trans characters from their young adult sections.
The public library system has been among one of the most prolific in the realm of censorship since the rise of the moral panic over books in 2021. They’ve attempted to persuade the city council to take over library collection decisions, a resolution that did not pass, but they have seen success through utilizing recommendations from the Materials Review Committee to move LGBTQ+ themed books into new sections of the library, as well as move entire sections of the library in and of itself. Notably, books in the “parenting”and “early childhood” collections have been moved from near juvenile areas to adult nonfiction sections. At least three LGBTQ+-themed books were also moved from the sections of the library meeting the needs of their target readership to less accessible spaces. The chair of the county library board has contributed to a hostile work environment in the system as well. The Greenville County Library system has received complaints about Pride displays, leading them to be removed and outright banned. In October 2023, the board voted to remove any and all displays from county libraries unless they were paid holidays observed by the library and city government.
Last March, the library board voted to remove all transgender-themed books from the juvenile areas. They were relocated to the above-mentioned parenting shelves and accessible only by adult patrons or those juveniles whose parents have given them explicit access. In the libraries where such sections did not exist, the books were moved to a facility that has it, making them inaccessible without either visiting a different branch of the library or seeking an interlibrary loan.
Now the Materials Review Committee recommended to the board that all transgender books in their teen areas be removed, too. Any books that include a character who has transitioned or is in the process of transitioning from a gender that corresponds to their biological sex to another will be moved to the adult section. This applies to both written texts and illustrations and will likely include books that cover topics such as pronouns or drag, as it did with the ban on trans books for those under 12.
The recommendation will go on to the full library board, which has been receptive to the changes presented previously. At least one library board member believes that the change would be fine under the new South Carolina budget proviso which states no public libraries can receive state funding if they provide materials to those under 17 that appeal to prurient interests. What of all YA books featuring transgender characters falls under the category of prurient interests is a question best left to the individuals who have been fixated on a weird and incorrect narrative about what gender means.
If the board passes the recommendation, all of the YA books which fall into the “trans” category would be moved to the adult section. This would make them completely off limits to anyone under the age of 18, unless they have a library card that gives them permission to borrow material from any section of the library. That requires parental/guardian permission in the library card application.
As is always the case with such permissions, those most in need of those books will be most harmed. Teenagers who use the library often do so without their parents, and those who have parents who cannot make it to the library to update or apply for new library cards will be unable to borrow books that depict their experiences and the experiences of people they likely interact with daily.
If passed, no so-called transgender books would be available to browse or borrow in any YA or juvenile section of the entire county library system.
The Greenville County Library board meets Monday, August 26 at 12 pm in Meeting Room C at the Hughes Main Library. A full timeline of events related to the public library’s ongoing censorship is available here, compiled by the local organization Freedom in Libraries Advocacy Group working to push back against the discriminatory changes.