The Brief

The presentation was unassuming, just a handful of picture books arrayed on the side of a bookcase — the ABCs of a Pride parade, biographies of the gay World War II codebreaker Alan Turing and 50 LGBTQ+ people who made history, the sex education manual “It’s Perfectly Normal,” a retelling of the Stonewall riot and “My Shadow Is Pink,” in which a young boy explores his gender identity.

But when Fresno County Supervisor Steve Brandau heard a complaint from a constituent that Clovis librarians had put together a graphic Pride Month display for the children’s section, he was concerned enough to check it out. It wasn’t the type of material that he thought should be available alongside books about skunks and pirates.

“I don’t like a kid going in there and seeing ‘I can choose to be a boy or girl,’” Brandau said. “It didn’t seem age-appropriate, especially without the parent being involved.”

After flipping through the books, Brandau said he left the library in June 2023 “horrified” by images he believed were too sexually explicit and topics he felt were too mature for young readers. He began reaching out to local officials elsewhere — in states such as South Carolina, Kentucky and Texas, where library book controversies have become commonplace — to learn what they were doing.

Last November, Brandau led Fresno County in creating one of California’s first citizen review committees for library books, which could soon decide whether to move material with “sexual references” and “gender-identity content” to a restricted area where it could only be checked out with a parent’s permission.

Fresno County Supervisor Steve Brandau stands outside his office in the Fresno County Hall of Records on Aug. 1, 2024

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Larry Valenzuela

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CalMatters/CatchLight Local

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The committee, which has not yet been selected, is already a lightning rod for fears about parents’ rights, censorship, the politicization of libraries and LGBTQ people being pushed out of public life again. Supporters say they are concerned about sexual content, not LGBTQ themes, and they do not want to ban books from the library entirely.

Tracy Bohren, a queer mother of two from Clovis who helped rally local LGBTQ residents against the committee, said adults who object to books about gay and transgender people are applying their own biases to sexualize material meant to help children understand the world. She said it’s important to have library books about marginalized groups available to LGBTQ kids who don’t come from supportive homes and need the message that they are loved.

“Somehow in the ‘we need to protect kids’ platform that they have stated, trans kids, LGBTQ kids, have not been considered part of that population that they need to protect,” Bohren said.

Now the book battle has become another front in the intensifying clashes between more conservative pockets of California and the state’s liberal government over values and local control. A bill on track to pass the Legislature before the session ends on Aug. 31 would effectively outlaw book review committees and other policies that limit access to materials at public libraries — potentially shutting down Fresno County’s efforts before they ever get off the ground.

“It appears to me that they believe that children are best educated and raised as wards of the state,” Brandau said. “We have age limits for movies. We have age limits for alcohol. And it’s not unreasonable to have age limits on sexually graphic material.”

Book bans surging nationwide

Though disagreements over what constitutes suitable reading material for young people are nothing new, public libraries have been thrust into a pitched culture war over the past few years as conservative activist groups across the country organized to demand more books be removed from collections.

The American Library Association has tracked a massive increase in the number of books being challenged at schools and libraries, which soared by 65% in 2023 to a record 4,240 titles. Nearly half featured LGBTQ or racial themes, according to the association.

Many Republican-led states have subsequently embraced policies requiring schools and libraries to remove books with any sexual content — including nudity, masturbation and homosexuality — or keep them in a separate adult section. New statewide restrictions have taken effect in Utah, Idaho, South Carolina and Tennessee in recent weeks.

California is not at the center of this conflict, though it has faced scattered fights over school materials, including a high-profile showdown last year between Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Temecula school board that tried to ban an elementary school social studies textbook because it incorporated a lesson about assassinated gay politician Harvey Milk of San Francisco. In response, Newsom signed a law to penalize local districts that block books for including the history or culture of LGBTQ people and other diverse groups, while voters recalled the school board president in June.

The public library in Huntington Beach Nov. 11, 2023.

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Lauren Justice

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CalMatters

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Besides Fresno County, the city council in Huntington Beach, the iconic Orange County surf community, has also voted to create a citizen committee to review children’s library books, part of a broader push by local officials to establish a bulkhead against progressive California policies. In the latest salvo of a bitter brawl over the political future of the city, opponents are collecting signatures to place a repeal of the review board before voters next spring.

These incidents caught the attention of Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, a Torrance Democrat, who said public libraries are cornerstone institutions that should provide all Americans with a diverse range of perspectives.

“Teens exploring gender identity issues absolutely should have access to books that speak to their experiences and that may provide support or guidance,” he told CalMatters.

His proposal, Assembly Bill 1825, would require public libraries in California to establish a clear policy for choosing books, including a way for community members to voice their objections, but would prohibit banning material because it deals with race or sexuality. It also clarifies that library material can include sexual content that’s not obscene and leaves to the discretion of librarians where to display those books, though they could not prevent minors from checking them out.

“At the center of this bill is the fundamental respect for professionally trained librarians to be making the decisions as to what book titles and how to present them to the general public,” Muratsuchi said.

The measure has received the support of the California Library Association. Peter Coyl, the director and CEO of the Sacramento Public Library and a member of the association’s intellectual freedom committee, said librarians want to provide people with information, not pornography. While parents have the right to decide what their own children read, he said, libraries need to have materials available to serve their full communities, including families with same-gender couples and children who are questioning their identities.

“Not every book is meant for every reader,” Coyl said. “You can’t then take your belief about what’s right for your child and apply it to everyone else.”

The bill, which won overwhelming approval in the Assembly in May and has advanced smoothly through Senate committees since, must pass the Legislature by the end of August to reach the governor’s desk. A spokesperson for Newsom said the governor would not comment on pending legislation.

If it is signed into law, it could still potentially face legal challenges from defenders of library book review committees, who argue the bill prevents parents from protecting their children from adult material.

“How do we make sure our public libraries really are tools that can be used by everyone?” said Diane Pearce, a city councilmember in Clovis, a fast-growing and Republican-leaning Fresno suburb. “We want to empower our parents in this situation and the state is telling us that they can do it better than we can.”

LGBTQ families feel targeted

The debate over the book review board in Fresno County has been deeply enmeshed with anxieties around LGBTQ rights, particularly transgender youth, underscoring how advocates on either side see the committee in starkly different terms.

Clovis City Councilmember Diane Pearce posted these photos on Facebook on June 28, 2023, warning constituents: “Might want to wait until June is over to take your kids to the Clovis Public Library.

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Diane Pearce’s Clovis City Councilmember Facebook page

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As Brandau was researching his proposal last summer, the issue blew up publicly when Pearce posted a warning on Facebook that people “might want to wait until June is over to take your kids to the Clovis Public Library” alongside photos of the Pride display and a page from a book about gender identity.

Pearce said she does not object to LGBTQ content, but rather to graphic sex education books and others dealing with “transgender ideology” being targeted to young children, which she said are not appropriate themes for that age.

“I looked at it as a public service announcement,” Pearce said. “I believe that parents should be involved in their children’s exposure to that. Those issues are controversial.”

Pearce asked her city council colleagues to send a letter to the Fresno County Board of Supervisors seeking a solution, though they did not ultimately agree.

That effort mobilized local members of the LGBTQ community, such as Boren, who said the library skirmish is part of a broader pattern of religious conservatives in Fresno County overlooking or discriminating against LGBTQ families.

The Clovis school district was one of the first in the state last year to require parental notification when a student changes their name, pronouns or gender identity — a policy that the Legislature and Newsom recently made illegal in California, effective in January and pending several lawsuits.

When advocates rallied against the review committee proposal before the board of supervisors last fall, Bohren said officials ignored their expressions of support for the library and seemed only concerned with serving their constituents who aligned with their ideology.

An art display in the children’s section in the Fresno County Library Clovis Branch on July 31, 2024

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Larry Valenzuela

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CalMatters/CatchLight Local

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“I feel like it was contrived,” she said. “It’s one specific group of people — Christian nationalists — who are deciding what is appropriate or not appropriate for my children to see.”

Brandau said opponents fundamentally misunderstood his proposal, known as the Parents Matter Act, which he already considered a compromise. No books will be banned, he said; the committee will merely move material to a restricted section of the library that parents can access if they want, allowing Fresno County to set its own community standards for what books should be readily available to children.

He said he took months to develop a policy that was “not targeting one lifestyle,” though he acknowledged that language limiting “gender-identity content” and other “content deemed age-inappropriate” encompasses books about sexuality and transgender people.

“I’m not against this material. I’m against it at the wrong age,” Brandau said. “If this didn’t involve children, it’s not the biggest deal on the planet.”

Librarians under siege

California librarians say morale in their profession has plummeted in recent years. The backlash to certain books has fomented public distrust of their intentions and stoked a host of stressful and sometimes terrifying new threats — protesters, prank calls, bomb threats and “First Amendment auditors,” who record their encounters with library workers on their phones.

“These are things we never worried about before,” said Coyl of the Sacramento Public Library. “It’s not what we signed up for as library workers. And it is probably the worst that it’s ever been.”

Some libraries that have not faced a huge number of book challenges are making precautionary changes to their policies, such as requiring that demands come from someone who proves that they actually reviewed the material and not allowing another challenge if the library keeps the book on the shelf.

The tumult has stretched even to liberal California communities not used to conflicts over cultural values. Programs where drag queens read stories to children have become a particular flash point. Two years ago, members of the far-right militia group the Proud Boys stormed a drag storytime at a library in the East Bay city of San Lorenzo.

The library in Redwood City, on the San Francisco peninsula, started a drag queen story program remotely during the pandemic. When it hosted the event in-person for the first time in 2022, several groups protested that the library was grooming and indoctrinating children. The protesters included people associated with the Proud Boys and a local homelessness nonprofit with an evangelical Christian affiliation, according to Derek Wolfgram, interim director of Redwood City’s parks and recreation department.

Wolfgram, a past president of the California Library Association, said he tries to use these situations as an opportunity to engage positively with the community. The evangelical nonprofit wanted to host a Bible storytime in response to the drag queen event, so the library created a series of story hours with faith leaders of different denominations, which Wolfgram said has been popular and appeared to draw new library users.

He recalled another exchange with a man who said the library didn’t have enough books with conservative viewpoints. Wolfgram asked for a list of recommendations, some of which were already in Redwood City’s collection and at least one — “Why I Stand,” the memoir of NBA player Jonathan Isaac — that the library added. It has since been checked out several times.

“Don’t tell me what you want to take away from anybody else. Tell me what you want to add so you feel included,” Wolfgram said.

Parents divided over review committee

In Fresno County, another Pride Month has come and gone and the library book review committee still has not launched. The deadline for applications was in April, but more than three months later, the board, which will primarily be selected by county supervisors, remains vacant.

Brandau said he received more than 40 applications, which he is reviewing. He expects to finish interviews and choose his two representatives to the committee by the end of the month.

A spokesperson said the library is waiting to receive direction from the review committee before it moves any material. In the meantime, the Clovis branch put together an elaborate Pride display in June, with a case of featured books, a historical timeline and, in the children’s section, a banner depicting melting popsicles of every color in the rainbow, with the slogan “Love is Love.”

John Gerardi, executive director of Right to Life of Central California, is among the applicants waiting to find out whether he’ll be on the committee. The Clovis father of three “frequent library-goers” under the age of 10 said he wants to move books about sexuality that he believes are being presented to children who are far too young.

On several library visits, Gerardi said, his wife has found books in the children’s section that included explicit material that did not seem appropriate for the marked grade level, such as “Sex Is a Funny Word” by Cory Silverberg and Fiona Smyth. The sex education comic book for 8- to 10-year-olds has been one of the most challenged books in the country in recent years because of its frank discussion of sexual topics. Gerardi objected to an image that depicts a character masturbating in a bathtub and a passage about the meaning of the word sexy.

An image from the sex education comic book “Sex Is a Funny Word” by Cory Silverberg and Fiona Smyth depicts a character masturbating in a bathtub, which some parents argue is too graphic for the children’s section of the library.

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Photo courtesy of John Gerardi

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“Some of these books just seemed completely inappropriate for healthy childhood development around sex,” Gerardi said.

Gerardi said he has lost confidence in library officials, who he believes have been dismissive of parents’ concerns even though they are not all experts on early childhood development.

“There’s this idea that they have access to some secret hidden knowledge that we don’t have. And I just don’t think that’s true,” he said. “I think that appropriate presentation of sexual themes to children is something that the taxpayers who are paying for this darn library can understand.”

Others are seeking positions on the library book review committee precisely because they do not believe it should exist at all.

“It’s absolutely disgusting trying to control a public library that way,” said Jamie Coffman, a Fresno mother of four children ranging in age from 2 to 11. She said it’s a parent’s job to monitor what their kids are reading, not anybody else’s, and people should trust the librarians’ judgment about what books they put on the shelves.

Coffman said she submitted her application with vague answers that she hoped would conceal her true intention to “take it down from the inside.” She has yet to hear back.

Raised in a conservative, Southern Baptist family, Coffman said reading helped expose her to other viewpoints as she was growing up. She worries that society is moving backward on accepting diversity and said she’s scared that her own children might have fewer books available to them.

“You can’t hide the world just to make your children into who you want them to be,” she said.

This post first appeared on The LA Local.

A coalition of community activists and supporters held a vigil Thursday evening near the Home Depot on Century Boulevard to acknowledge those who were detained by masked agents earlier this year.

The vigil was organized by ING Fellowship, a grassroots organization founded in 2018 to address issues affecting Inglewood residents, where about 25 people gathered in the parking lot with flowers, candles and signs that read, “Boycott Home Depot” and “Inglewood Unidos.” Each person briefly talked about why they came to the vigil. 

“As a customer of Home Depot, I am outraged. We have normalized racial profiling on this parking lot,” Mars Marvilla said during the vigil. She told The LA Local that she now helps patrol the area near Home Depot when she’s driving for a rideshare company. 

The event was part of the group’s week of action to demand stronger protections for immigrant families and more accountability from city leaders in the wake of ongoing federal immigration enforcement. 

As part of their ongoing efforts in the city, activists are asking city officials to adopt the “Inglewood For All Act,” creating sanctuary city-style protections because “we felt like our local governments weren’t doing enough, so we started gathering to provide and fill those gaps,” said Yaritza Gonzalez, ING Fellowship co-founder. 

The protections include ordinances that would prohibit city resources from being used in immigration enforcement, limiting any collaboration with immigration authorities and Inglewood Police Department and restricting access for immigration authorities to non-public areas of city property.

“With this policy, we’re hoping that the city would be more welcoming to not just residents, but to all the people who will be coming to Inglewood for major events like the World Cup, the Super Bowl and the Olympics,” Gonzalez told The LA Local. 

A coalition of community activists and supporters held a vigil Thursday evening near the Home Depot on Century Boulevard to acknowledge those who were detained by masked agents earlier this year.

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LaMonica Peters

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The LA Local

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The coalition is also encouraging residents to participate in know-your-rights workshops, rapid-response networks and demonstrations intended to show solidarity with those impacted. 

The “Inglewood For All” campaign comes months after incidents like the Jan. 13 operation where  masked federal agents detained workers outside a Superior Grocers construction site. The coalition of activists, including the Hill Network, said they have since tracked dozens of detentions in and around Inglewood, including near day labor hubs and retail centers.  

“On January 13, 2026, our cousin was taken under false [pretenses] from Inglewood,” said Maritza Medina, an Inglewood resident. “Since then, I’ve committed myself to be more involved in our city and be as supportive as I can.” 

The LA Local reached out to Inglewood Mayor James Butts for a response to ING Fellowship’s week of action but received no response.  

The Inglewood For All Act also signals a growing grassroots movement, where community patrols, advocacy groups and informal networks have taken on the role of documenting enforcement activity and supporting affected families — even without formal backing from the city.

“This is just the start of this,” Gonzalez said during the vigil. “It’s an election year, and we’re hoping there is change.” 

A protest at Inglewood City Hall took also place Friday after months of trying to meet with city officials, ING Fellowship said.

The Los Angeles Public Library system is known for more than just books. You can check out tools and computers. And it even has a recording studio.

But did you know it has its own map collection?

They’ve got fire insurance maps spanning Los Angeles; old maps detailing curiosities like an alligator farm or an ostrich farm in L.A. County; copies of the Ord Survey, the first formal land survey of the city from 1849.

A recent donation has added thousands of maps from the region and all over the world to the collection.

Stacks of maps from the Central Library's map collection.

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Peter Hauge

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Peter Hauge

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The mapping link

The new addition came from the collection of Bill Hunt, the founder of the now defunct Santa Barbara-based map distributor Map Link.

Hunt is also an avid collector and traveler. His collection, consisting of hundreds of boxes of well preserved and carefully catalogued maps, took up an entire storage space in Ventura.

Hunt got in touch with the Los Angeles Public Library in November to offload some of his collection. The library brought them in starting in January.

Stacks of boxes containing a lot of Bill Hunt's donation of maps to the Los Angeles Public Library.

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Peter Hauge

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Peter Hauge

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A treasure trove

Not since 2012 has the Los Angeles Public Library landed on such a sizable collection. Then, they were from collector John Feathers, who had thousands of maps filling his Mount Washington Home.

“It was said that John Feathers’ collection doubled our map collection,” LAPL’s map librarian Peter Hauge said. “I would say this Map Link donation probably boosted us again by another 30 or 40%. It is absolutely massive.”

Hauge said Hunt’s collection is much more organized, which should make cataloging it all a lot easier.

What’s in the boxes?

Many of the new maps will be housed in the  history and genealogy department of the Central Library, located on lower level four. There they’ll be accessible to all Angelenos, no library card required for viewing.

Flat map drawers where a lot of the Los Angeles Public Library legacy collection is kept.

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Peter Hauge

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Peter Hauge

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Hauge said the donation, global in scope, helps to fill out the library’s own collection. For example, the library now has 12 new maps from different time periods and regions of Senegal, building on its much smaller, previous collection.

“That was really the most exciting part of it,” Hauge said. “The quality and the scope of the maps I think is what made it so much more important and valuable.”

The donations span pretty much every country in the world and just about every type of map you can think of.

“ This collection has folded maps, travel maps, street guides from the entire United States, just about every county, from every state in the country,” Hauge said.

A Legacy of Maps

Many of the new maps are already available for the public to access. However, Hauge said it'll take at least a year before the entire trove is added to the collection, and even longer for them to be properly cataloged and indexed.

These maps are lenses to the world and the past. Hauge said people come to the map library for all sorts of reasons. Some are writers looking to accurately describe what the transportation system was like in Los Angeles. Others are residents looking for the history of their neighborhoods and how they developed.

Whatever it is, the library probably has a map that can help you out.

Crowds packed into the Pike Outlets in downtown Long Beach on Thursday evening for the free motocross and car show that marks the beginning of Grand Prix weekend every year: Thunder Thursday.

Stunt motorcyclist rides in the air for the Thunder Thursday event by The Pike Outlets, Long Beach on April 16, 2026.

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Justin Enriquez

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Long Beach Post

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Already, the area has transformed into 1.97 miles of track that on Sunday, will belong to the world’s best IndyCar racers as about 200,000 fans watch them during the 51st annual Grand Prix.

Marcus Ericsson driving the purple and black indy car races against Rinus Veekay driving blue and white car race on Shoreline Drive, Long Beach on April 16, 2026

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Justin Enriquez

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Long Beach Post

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On Thursday night, families, fans and revelers got a taste of the high-energy fun with motocross stunt shows, exhibition races, classic car displays and pit crew competitions.

Audiences took their phones to record the final race for the Thunder Thursday event on Shoreline Drive by The Pike Outlets, in Long Beach, April 16, 2026 Photo by Justin Enriquez

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Justin Enriquez

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Long Beach Post

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Big Bang on the Bay, the July 3 fireworks show over Alamitos Bay, will be canceled this year after a last-ditch effort to allow fireworks was voted down by the California Coastal Commission.

Without the fireworks, what’s the point, longtime organizer John Morris said.

Morris, who owns the nearby Boathouse on the Bay restaurant, originally hoped to put on a larger-than-usual pyrotechnics display to celebrate America’s 250th birthday, but in January, Coastal Commission staff told him no. On Wednesday, the full panel of commissioners unanimously upheld that decision despite Morris’ appeal, which included letters of support from local, state and federal politicians asking the commission to allow fireworks.

The denial didn’t come as a surprise. The Coastal Commission warned Morris last year that 2025 would be the last time they allowed fireworks at the Big Bang. They’ve pushed for years for him to move to drones, which they say are more environmentally friendly.

Morris made the seven-hour drive from Long Beach to the Coastal Commission meeting in the city of Gonzalez to plead his case to them in person. But he got up to head to his car as soon as he heard the first “no” vote.

On Friday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom distanced himself from the commission’s decision. “This is NOT a decision the Governor made,” his press office said on X. “Our office is looking into this matter on behalf of the people of Long Beach!”

“It’s mind-boggling the way they treated me,” said Morris of the commission, which he has repeatedly criticized, including during the public comment period at Wednesday’s meeting.

He said he still doesn’t understand why his fireworks weren’t permitted when other shows, like the one in San Diego, have continued.

On the drive home, Morris said, he received calls from numerous Long Beach residents who were in disbelief that the fireworks show wouldn’t happen for the first time since it began in 2011.

Morris said the fireworks were the key to the Big Bang, which is a fundraiser for Long Beach charities. Donors kick in to pay for the show and the rest — close to $2 million over the years — goes to local nonprofits.

Morris estimated that “more than 50%” of his donors would not accept seeing a drone show instead. A drone show would also be roughly $140,000 more expensive to put on and cut significantly into the fundraiser’s proceeds, according to Morris.

Coastal Commission staff said they considered all of those factors, but deemed that drones are still less likely to pollute the bay or disrupt herons and egrets nesting nearby.

Morris’ relationship with the Coastal Commission has been openly hostile for years.

On Wednesday, Commissioner Dennis Rodoni said he only voted to allow fireworks last year because Morris agreed he would try to transition the show away from fireworks this year.

“This has already been voted on, and it was crystal clear to the applicant that that was the final year of fireworks,” said Commissioner Caryl Hart.

Morris said he met with city officials and commission staff three times since last May to talk about the feasibility of holding a drone show for the July 3 event but none of the three companies he met with could satisfy the conditions needed.

To allow a drone show anywhere in the city, the drones could only move vertically, cannot have anyone underneath the flight path and must take off and land from the same place, said a fire department spokesperson.

Commission staff disagreed with Morris’ assertion that a drone show is not possible over Alamitos Bay, and commissioners said he was given ample time to make it happen.