Charlston, W.VA. – In the West Virginia Association of Museum, state senators are being urged to oppose a bill that will criminalize public libraries, school libraries and museums from displaying pornographic content to minors.
Board member and World Scouting Museum Curator Alex Bennett said HB 4654, which passed the house of delegates on 85–12 votes on Friday, would hurt museums more as libraries.
The WVAM board, which oversees 250 museums and cultural institutions in West Virginia, issued a statement on Sunday, which read, “WVAM is not protesting to protect children from potential harmful materials or to ensure that our museums, libraries and schools are safe places. We are opposed to the change in the code that endanger the community of the library and museum professionals while doing its work in these institutions. ,
Bennett said that the bill would prevent volunteers from helping museums.
“What if I can not get enough volunteers to come and help me when I come 100 children a day? If they have an opportunity to get into any kind of legal trouble, they are not more likely to come. We do not want to lose those volunteers, ”Bennett told Metronws on Monday.
Dale. Brandon Steel, R-Railley, said that he sponsored the bill following concerns expressed by some librarians in his community. He said that target libraries and museums have to be kept under the same standards as other places in the society.
Bennett said that the language of the bill is very unclear. He said that he has the main issue with the word “porn”.
“It’s so open,” he said. “It seems that a person can walk in the museum, can see something that is found to be aggressive, and then the staff of the museum may be in trouble and can be accused of a hooliganism.”
The World Scouting Museum has some imagination that people may seem aggressive, Bennett said, but it is not forced to minors.
“Long -time Boy Scouts has used the original American imagery. His honor was based on the original American tribes, so he has a lot of fantasies original American and includes it, Swastikus, ”he said, it is different from a Nazi Swastika.
“This can make someone uncomfortable and instead of interacting about it, it means that it can turn into ‘I want to hear this. I don’t care what it means. I am hurt. It’s porn.” Then we are in jail, “said Bennett.
Currently, the state law is exempted against demonstrating or broadcasting minors in public and school libraries. HB 4654 will only work by removing the discount.
West Virginia is being sentenced to $ 25,000 in vulgarity laws and up to five years.
Bennett said that the bill is unnecessary because the libraries of the state already have the process of removing aggressive material from the shelves.
“If you are angry with a book, or anything in the library, you can reach the librarian and tell them that you don’t think it should be on the performance and it is a process of pulling it out and it can be reviewed,” he said.
Leaders of West Virginia teacher unions had earlier said during a public hearing on the bill that they had never heard of such complaints from teachers about pornographic materials in school libraries.
Bennett said that the bill is nothing, but is politically motivated.
“We are going to push something politically, through which the results are not really understood and not really thought, there are going to be the results. Those results are going to spend a lot of money, ”he said.
Many states including Arkansas have passed similar laws.
The regular legislative session of 2024 lasts till 9 March.