New Jersey is now the latest state to make book bands in state libraries and schools illegal Governor Murphy today signed the freedom to read bill Advocates say it's designed to protect books from being banned and Librarians from lawsuits and criminal charges related to book access a senior political correspondent David Cruz reports the bill had a long road to approval and plenty of opponents at today's Bill signing ceremony for the freedom to read act former librarian Martha Hixon remembered the night in 2021 when she became the center of the book Banning attempts that prompted the bill on that night a handful of parents called me by name a pedophile pornographer and groomer of children at a school board meeting that has since been viewed on YouTube nearly 6,000 times angered by hixon's opposition to Banning several young adult books that contain sexual content and explored queer themes and fueled by conservatives targeting the 2023 elections protesters targeted Hixon regularly I received hate mail shunning by colleagues antagonism from administrators and calls from my firing and arrest I have even been confronted on the street and my car has been vandalized in January of this year the spouse of a board member posted videos targeting me on extremist social media sites totally worth it said Hixon at today's ceremony where she the governor and the Bill's sponsors called it a victory for freedom of speech and parental rule that is why this legislation mandates that books cannot be removed from our libraries solely based on the origin background or views contained within the text or because an individual finds it offensive at the same time it also empowers local communities to engage in a transparent and thoughtful discussion on the books that should or should not remain in our libraries 44% of band books Center on characters of color or themes of race or racism 39% explore lgbtq plus characters or themes that is not a coincidence these bands are a deliberate effort to erase voices and perspectives that challenge the status quo Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz said parents have the ultimate say on what books their kids should and shouldn't be exposed to and urge them to exercise that right every day if in fact your household is not aligned with whatever that subject matter is that opens up opportunities for conversations to explore to engage in different ideology or to say this book is not for your age demographic and it's going to go back sadly due to a now about to be Federal Administration again and a US Supreme Court which are heavily on the other side of this it really matters more than ever before what state you live in you choose to bring your family up in where you choose to work this is yet another example not every state is doing what we're doing today in fact many states are doing the opposite it's true the temperature on this debate has been turned way down since the election last year where it appeared to back fire on conservatives but there is a governor's race just around the corner and as Murphy suggested a new wind about to blow into the White House and the heat could get turned up again before you know it I'm David Cruz NJ Spotlight news [Music]