CLAY COUNTY, Fla. — A local man responsible for more than one-third of all book challenges in Florida last year told Action News Jax in an exclusive interview Friday, that the state legislature’s effort to crack down on frivolous book challenges won’t slow him down.
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Clay County’s Bruce Friedman claims the bill currently awaiting the Governor’s signature will not impact his book-challenging crusade.
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The proposal would restrict residents to one book challenge per month if they don’t have a student in the local school system.
Friedman does have a student attending a Clay County high school, so the limits wouldn’t apply to him.
“I will make as many challenges as necessary until I feel our libraries are considerably cleaned up,” said Friedman.
Friedman told Action News Jax not all of the 750 complaints he’s filed over the past 19 months are necessarily of his own making.
He said dozens of parents and citizens have come to him with titles they want challenged.
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Friedman explained he signs his name to those challenges to help keep others anonymous and out of the public spotlight.
Friedman argued if state lawmakers truly want to resolve the book challenge frenzy that has earned Florida the designation as the number one state for book bans nationwide, they should further define what is and what is not considered prohibited content.
“The legislature’s effort to curb frivolous challenges, just like everything else they haven’t defined, they haven’t defined frivolous,” said Friedman.
On the other side of the book challenge debate, Stephana Ferrell with the Florida Freedom to Read Project, seemed to agree with Friedman on that point.
According to Ferrell, the guidance from the Florida DOE has been misleading and more restrictive than the language in the law.
“Any sexual conduct whatsoever cannot be allowed in our libraries unless it’s required by statute or standard. Until the Florida DOE clarifies that language, we’re going to continue to see removals of classic literature,” said Ferrell in an interview with Action News Jax on Wednesday.
But Friedman noted his home county is taking steps to provide clarity on its own.
A proposed ‘Challenged Materials Policy’ introduced during a meeting of the Clay County School Board Thursday night indicates if titles don’t meet the definition of ‘harmful to minors’ laid out in the state statute, they would not be removed.
However, titles could be age-restricted or require parental consent if they’re shown to contain profanity, horror, violence, or a glorification of drug use by minors, weapons, or suicide.
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Books with sexual content, gender theory, or medical transition could also be restricted.
“I’m fairly confident that the, call them ‘spicy’ books with some adult-themed content, are going to be moved to more appropriate locations,” said Friedman.
Ferrell on the other hand said she wants to see the state make it more difficult to file challenges, in hopes of preventing people like Friedman from filing hundreds of complaints that risk taking books away from all students.
“We are going to continue to see certain people express their viewpoints and assume that their viewpoints should limit all. And that’s not freedom. That’s not liberty. And unfortunately, the law allows for all of it,” said Ferrell. “We’re hopeful that some acknowledgment and some movement is a step in the right direction, but there’s over 400 miles of Florida coastline. We’ve got a lot to go.”
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