SPANISH FORT — The Spanish Fort Public Library board unanimously approved new policies regarding the placement of certain books board members say could be "sexually explicit" or "inappropriate" for children and minors.

Several of the new policies, adopted during a board meeting on May 5, include changes to the library's selection process, maintenance of the library's contents and book challenges. City Attorney David Conner said the new policies are an attempt to satisfy both sides of the public library battle over whether certain books should be in juvenile and adult's sections. Last year, the Alabama Public Library Services (APLS) adopted new guidelines they say are intended to protect minors from "sexually explicit" material, with violations of these guidelines potentially resulting in the loss of state funding.

"At its most basic level, we want to make sure that everything we do is respectful," Conner said. "We want to make sure that it's the best we can. We're trying to take into account the interests of all persons involved, to be graceful, merciful, respectful — all the things that each of us living in this community would hope we all strive to."

Along with the relocation of several books, the young adult section of the Spanish Fort Public Library will now be restricted to people ages 18 through 25, meaning only those with an 18+ library card or parental permission would be able to access and check out books from that section. According to the guidelines included in the resolution, material containing "topics related to sexual orientation, gender identity, consent and sexual ethics may require parental guidance."

A book Conner cited was "Let's Talk About It: The Teen's Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human," which was previously housed in the young adult section before several complaints led to its relocation to the adult section. The book has frequently ranked as one of the most challenged books in the country since its publication in 2021. Conner said that while the book may inherently have importance, he said it is graphic enough to where they couldn't show pictures from it during the meeting and said he feels it is too inappropriate and explicit for their young adult section.

"There are topics in this book that are definitely appropriate for discussion or learning, for gathering, but there's a significant portion of this book that many, many people, I think, if they looked at it, would feel like they crossed the line in the pictures that it depicts, the activities that it depicts," Conner said. "In some places, it appears to encourage children if they had questions to look to pornography. There's just a lot of questionable material in here, but again, there are parts of the book that may be helpful."

Under the new policies, books containing topics such as sexuality, consent, gender, rape and self-harm are now only available to those 18 and up. With the young adult section now being considered part of the adult department of the library, only those with full-access library cards or parental consent will be able to check out those books.

This year so far, 36 books have been relocated to the young adult section, many of which feature LGBTQ+ characters and themes, including children's books such as "Daddy, Papa and Me," "Jacob's New Dress" and "Mr. Watson's Chickens." Popular young adult novels aimed at teenage audiences such as the "Hunger Games" series will also be affected by these new policies.

Read Freely Alabama co-founder Angie Hayden denounced the new policies, saying the relocation of these books, especially those with LGBTQ+ content, is prejudicial and harmful. She cited a 1958 book "The Rabbits' Wedding," centered on a black rabbit marrying a white rabbit, as an example of a book that was previously accused of "indoctrinating" children, saying it is unconstitutional to pull books over ideas and themes opponents simply disagree with.

"As I look at your policies that say that books that mention identity, such as a book about a little girl with two daddies, and you say that it is to be segregated to the adult section as if it's inappropriate, which is not by any state code or the APLS code, what makes you different from the people who demanded that this book about the rabbits being moved to the adult section?" said Hayden, who has traveled from Prattville to also speak against moving books in Fairhope. She spoke in Montgomery at a recent state library board meeting in support of the Fairhope Public Library.

Nathaniel Pendergrass, a Spanish Fort resident and president of the LGBTQ+ organization Coloring the Eastern Shore, said the policies reinforce "generational stereotypes" and discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community, arguing that opponents against these materials are politically motivated.

"I think that people from Spanish Fort with kids in this library that have read these stories that know what we're doing, we make up the majority of people that come and speak and put in our time and energy to say 'Hey, we do not like this policy. This is detrimental to our kids,'" Pendergrass said. "Most of the people that have come and spoke before me [in the past] that were for these policies that said, 'Put all this stuff in,' and said to keep LGBTQ stuff out of [these sections], they're not here. They're not here now. They weren't here last time. They represent interests way out."

Despite opposition voiced from the public, the board approved the resolution, saying they will continue to review the library's content policies as they're implemented. As part of the policy changes, challenges to any of the library's books will now only be accepted from residents of Baldwin County who possess a library card to the Spanish Fort Public Library, which the board said is intended to prevent nonresidents and outsiders from influencing and interfering with the library's content.

"I listened to each and every one of you, and each one of you brought up something that I had not thought of before," board member Mary Brabner told those in attendance. "You have my word that I will push this group to continue to discuss this and make sure that we stay abreast of everything that is going on. This is a living, breathing document, and I hope it continues to live and breathe."