What happened
On Sept. 24, League City City Council voted in a tie for the motion to approve or reject a committee’s recommendation to move the children’s book, “Big Wig” by Jonathan Hillman, from the children’s section to the parenting section of Helen Hall Library, thus only allowing adults to check the book out.
Community Impact previously reported that the Community Standards Review Advisory Committee voted on July 31 to relocate the book, which triggered a City Council vote to either approve or overrule the committee’s decision.
Mayor Nick Long and council members Justin Hicks, Andy Mann and Sean Saunders voted to approve the committee’s recommendation to relocate the book. Council members Tommy Cones, Tom Crews, Courtney Chadwell and Chad Tressler voted against the committee’s recommendation to move the book, resulting in a 4-4 tie.
A tie means the motion fails to advance, resulting in the book staying in the section it is currently in.
The committee was founded in February 2023 to review books League City residents flag as inappropriate or offensive. On July 31, only two of the committee’s six members were present for the vote, which triggered the recommendation to go up for council consideration.
The details
The picture book depicts a young boy who “dresses in drag to compete in a neighborhood costume competition,” according to the book’s Simon and Schuster description.
The book also includes an image of a boy sitting in front of a mirror and trying on a wig with text saying, “This wig belongs to B.B. Bedazzle, the most fabulous queen by far.”
Those opposed
Several League City residents attended the council meeting to voice their opposition to relocating the book.
League City resident Katherine Swanson, who ran for League City Council Position 4 earlier this year, said she felt attempts to relocate the book from the library’s children’s section to the parenting section was an overreach of the city government’s authority.
“I do feel that's an overreach of government, and that's something that we should not be supporting and standing for ... along with that, [this] is violating our constitutional rights,” Swanson said.
League City resident Marianne Delgado quoted the American Library Association’s “Freedom to Read” statement, first made in 1953 during the Joseph McCarthy era, which has been amended several times.
“It is in the public interest for publishers and librarians to make available the widest diversity of views and expressions, including those that are unorthodox, unpopular or considered dangerous by the majority,” Delgado said, quoting the statement.
What they’re saying
Council members were divided over whether to approve or reject the committee’s recommendation to relocate the book.
“There is nothing in this book that could be considered remotely obscene by any definition, outside of a definition that would get us sued for being discriminatory,” Tressler, who voted against the motion, said.
Chadwell, who voted against moving the book, said he read the book and asked his children and grandchildren to read it. Chadwell said he felt “Big Wig” was a “bad book,” but it did not violate the standards for obscenity.
“The positive things that a lot of the speakers came up and said that it accomplishes—I don’t see it at all, but I’m not up here to give book reviews,” Chadwell said. “We’re up here to determine whether or not this particular book crosses a line in terms of obscenity ... or objectionable material.”
Mann, who voted to approve the committee’s recommendation, said that while many residents have attended council meetings to protest the creation of the committee and its recommendation to relocate the book, it is ultimately the council’s responsibility to also listen to members of the community who feel the book in question does meet obscenity standards.
“The job up here is really ... to balance different sets of constituents' needs and while I completely understand those of you who see this as a threat to your lifestyle or some sort of affront to whatever you have going on in your life, I would ask you just to be maybe a little bit considerate of people who do not believe exactly the way that you believe,” Mann said.
Saunders, who also voted to approve the committee’s recommendation, said moving the book to the parenting section would give parents more control over the types of books their children read.
“A parent should be involved in all aspects of their children’s lives, including what books they read,” Sanders said.
What else?
“Big Wig” is the first library book the committee has voted to relocate. Previously, the committee considered relocating another book, "Granddad’s Pride," but voted against moving it.
