Va. Republicans try to restrict minors' access to two books after judge's obscenity finding

A Republican lawyer who serves in the Virginia House of Delegates is pursing restraining orders that would make two books unavailable to minors after a retired judge acting on behalf of the Virginia Beach Circuit Court found the books could be considered obscene due to explicit sexual content.

In an interview Thursday, Del. Tim Anderson, R-Virginia Beach, said he and his client in the case, Republican congressional candidate Tommy Altman, are now seeking temporary restraining orders that would prevent distribution of the books to minors by libraries and bookstores.

The books in question are “A Court of Mist and Fury,” a fantasy novel that contains sex scenes, and “Gender Queer,” a memoir about LGBTQ identity written in a graphic or comic book style format. It has come under fire from some parents over an illustration depicting oral sex.

Virginia Democrats have pushed back against what they say is a wave of conservative attempts to censor what young people read. So far, those fights, which often center around books dealing with LGBTQ themes or race, have largely been restricted to the General Assembly and local school boards. But Anderson’s effort appears to be a significant escalation in tactics by getting Virginia courts involved in deciding whether some books should be off limits to young readers.

Anderson said he’s only trying to restrict the books’ availability to minors, not to censor or ban them entirely.

“It’s just, they’re basically treated like adult magazines now,” Anderson said. “You can’t go watch an R-rated movie without your parents there. Same concept.”

The legal maneuver was already drawing backlash Thursday.

https://www.virginiamercury.com/2022/05/19/va-republicans-try-to-restrict-minors-access-to-two-books-after-judges-obscenity-finding/