CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The West Virginia Association of Museums is urging state senators to oppose a bill that would criminalize public libraries, school libraries and museums from displaying obscene material to minors.
Board member and World Scouting Museum Curator Alex Bennett said H.B. 4654, which passed the House of Delegates on a 85-12 vote Friday, would hurt museums just as much as libraries.
The WVAM board, which oversees West Virginia’s 250 museums and cultural institutions, released a statement Sunday that read, in part, “WVAM is not opposed to protecting children from potentially harmful materials or ensuring that our museums, libraries, and schools are safe spaces. We are opposed to a change in the code that endangers the community of library and museum professionals while doing their jobs in these institutions.”
Bennett said the bill would deter volunteers from helping at museums.
“What if I can’t get enough volunteers to come and help me when I have 100 kids come in one day? They are more unlikely to come if there is the opportunity for them to get in some kind of legal trouble. We don’t want to lose those volunteers,” Bennett told MetroNews Monday.
Del. Brandon Steele, R-Raleigh, said he sponsored the bill following concerns expressed by some librarians in his own community. He said the goal is to put libraries and museums under the same standards as other places in society.
Bennett said the language of the bill is too vague. He said the main issue they have is with the word “obscene.”
“It’s very open-ended,” he said. “It sounds like someone could walk into the museum, see something they find offensive that is historic, and then the museum staff could be in trouble and charged with a felony.”
The World Scouting Museum has some imagery that people might find offensive, Bennett said, but it’s not forced on minors.
“The Boy Scouts for a long time have used Native American imagery. Their Honor Society was based on Native American tribes, so a lot of the imagery they have is Native American and included in that is swastikas,” he said, adding that it’s different than a Nazi swastika.
“That could make somebody uncomfortable and instead of having a conversation about this is why it’s there and this is what it means, it could turn into ‘I don’t want to hear that. I don’t care about what that means. I’m offended. That’s obscene.’ Then we’re in jail,” Bennett said.
Currently, public and school libraries have exemptions to the state’s law against displaying or disseminating obscene material to minors. H.B. 4654 would work by simply removing the exemptions.
Obscenity laws in West Virginia have possible punishments of fines up to $25,000 and up to five years in prison.
Bennett said the bill is unnecessary because the state’s libraries already have a process to remove offensive material from the shelves.
“If you are offended by a book, or anything that’s in the library, you can reach out to the librarian and tell them that you don’t think this should be on display and there’s a process for them to pull that out and it can be reviewed,” he said.
Leaders of West Virginia’s teacher unions previously said during a public hearing on the bill that they have never heard of such complaints from teachers about obscene material in school libraries.
Bennett said the bill is nothing but politically motivated.
“We’re going to push something politically through that doesn’t really make sense and hasn’t really been thought out, there’s going to be repercussions. Those repercussions are going to cost a lot of money,” he said.
Several states, including Arkansas, have passed similar laws.
The 2024 Regular Legislative Session runs through March 9.