Charleston County Public Library officials say a graphic novel series was removed from shelves Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, three days after a complaint was filed. They were removed from the library's online directory Friday, Jan. 30. (File/Getty Images)
COLUMBIA — The Charleston County Public Library got drawn into South Carolina’s gubernatorial race this week over an X-rated graphic novel Republicans blasted as grossly explicit sex illustrations that should be nowhere near children.
Library officials said they removed the entire series of the comic-book-like novel from the adult section shelves at all branches countywide before the GOP candidates publicized their outrage. But the Republicans questioned why books called “Big Hard Sex Criminals” were ever in a public library and called for an immediate review of the county’s entire collection.
The first candidate to weigh in was Lt. Gov. Pam Evette, who in a Jan. 30 letter reminded the library’s director of a state law requiring public libraries to restrict children’s access to sexually explicit books.
“Protecting the innocence of our children is a shared responsibility that demands decisive action,” starts the letter Evette also posted on social media. It concludes: “I look forward to you taking swift and thorough action on this matter.”
Not to be outdone, U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace sent out two news releases Monday separately calling for state and federal agencies to investigate and freeze any funding to the county library.
“This is p*rn in our libraries. It’s disgusting,” Mace said in one email. It accused the library of “defying state law and using taxpayer dollars to expose children to pornographic material.
“This needs to end now,” she wrote.
In addition to the graphic novel, Mace called out the library for “Grandad’s Pride,” an illustrated children’s book about a child who finds an LGBTQ pride flag in grandpa’s attic, and the two start a pride parade in their town.
By Monday, the “Sex Criminals” series had been gone from all shelves countywide for six days. And the children’s book had already been moved to the adult fiction section, according to library officials.
The library received a complaint Jan. 24 on the X-rated adult series, according to the library system’s publicly available spreadsheet on book complaints and decisions.
Its director, Angela Craig, said the three-book adult series was removed from shelves Jan. 27 and from the library’s online directory Jan. 30.
It’s unclear when “Grandad’s Pride” was moved to the adult section. A complaint was submitted last March, according to the spreadsheet. It doesn’t give a date for the move, and a library spokesperson told the SC Daily Gazette he didn’t know.
It’s also unclear how long the books were on shelves or who submitted the official complaints.
County library spokesman Doug Reynolds said he did not know why and when the books were put on shelves.
Time magazine ranked the first book in the “Sex Criminals” series its No. 1 graphic novel of 2013, while noting it had been banned from the iTunes store.
As for who complained, Reynolds said the library doesn’t share that to protect people’s privacy.
However, both Evette and Mace referenced the letter of a county library trustee, who accused the library of having “Sex Criminals” near the children’s section with a so-called modesty cover. In her letter, Evette called the cover insufficient.
Mace’s public emails also came two days after the South Carolina State Library director responded to her team that it “appears this situation has been resolved.”
An investigation wasn’t necessary and the county library is following state law, wrote director Leesa Aiken. According to her written response, the county library’s leadership “acted swiftly and professionally” after receiving the complaint and met with the librarians who decide what goes on shelves to review their selection criteria.
On Wednesday, Attorney General Alan Wilson chimed in with his own news release, highlighting a letter he’d sent to the Charleston County Library Board.
“Although the State Library has informally informed my Office that the situation has been resolved, given the seriousness of these concerns, I write to remind you of your obligations under state law,” he wrote.
A spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union in South Carolina called the whole controversy unfortunate: “It’s a really bleak state of affairs that this is what our politicians are up in arms about,” said Paul Bowers, who’s also a Charleston County parent.
He hasn’t read the graphic novel but said there are plenty of books in libraries’ adult sections that he wouldn’t want his children to read. He said he was disheartened by the criticism of “Grandad’s Pride,” saying he rejects the notion that a book about a child understanding her grandfather is dangerous.
State Sen. Josh Kimbrell, who’s also running for governor, accused his competitors of “virtue signaling.”
“They’re late to the party,” he told the SC Daily Gazette on Thursday.
The Spartanburg County Republican is the reason the state law exists.
During a budget debate in 2024, senators adopted his amendment requiring county libraries to keep books that appeal to the “prurient interest” of children out of their children’s and youth sections. The odd wording was to align with existing state law, which defines “prurient interest” as “a shameful or morbid interest in nudity, sex, or excretion” that reflects “an arousal of lewd and lascivious desires and thoughts.”
The law threatens to withhold state aid if they don’t. Charleston County’s share in the budget legislators passed last year is more than $1.1 million.
Kimbrell began pushing for the directive in 2022. Librarians around the state mobilized to successfully squash it that year. Under a compromise legislators approved in 2024, children under 17 need a parent’s permission to check out those books.
The requirement has been in the state budget ever since. While budget clauses are technically one-year laws, they have the same authority as state code and continue as part of the budget indefinitely.
During the 2024 debate, library directors who continued to publicly oppose the directive included Craig, who called it unclear and unnecessary.
But after it became law, the Charleston County system amended their policies to comply, to include revising their complaint process, Reynolds said.
Mace contends it’s not enough and questioned library officials’ judgement.
“If those books were in there, what else is in there we don’t know about?” she wrote in a response Tuesday to the Gazette. “Anyone in their right mind should know books like this should NEVER be anywhere near kids.”
She still believes there should be a full review of the county collection “to ensure there is no more sexually explicit material available.”
The federal agency she asked to investigate, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, gave the county library a $100,000 grant last year.
But it didn’t have anything to do with what books are on shelves, according to Reynolds. Rather, it was for food distribution and nutrition education programs.
The county library planned to use the grant to open a produce distribution site at a branch in North Charleston and to support cooking and nutrition classes in partnership with the Lowcountry Food Bank, according to a December news release.
The library doesn’t receive regular funding from the federal agency, Reynolds said.
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Courtesy of South Carolina Daily Gazette
