South Carolina has implemented one of the most restrictive book ban regulations in the US, enabling mass censorship in school classrooms and libraries across the state.

Drafted by the Department of Education, which is led by Ellen Weaver, a close ally of the far-right group Moms for Liberty, the regulation requires all reading material to be “age or developmentally appropriate”. The wording of the legislation could see titles as classic as Romeo and Juliet completely wiped from school shelves.

“All we’re going to have left is Lassie from here on out,” said Shanna Miles, an author and school librarian born and raised in South Carolina. “They’re not going to stop at one aspect of society they don’t like; they will keep on going. Now [that] they have a taste of power, this is never going to end.”

South Carolina’s recent regulation is part of an alarmingly broader nationwide fight against literature exploring race, sexuality, or anything seemingly contentious or divisive. The severity of this particularly draconian regulation, however, sets it apart from what is happening in most other states.

The broad-reaching policy took effect automatically on 25 June.

It outlines that “age-appropriate” materials must not include descriptions or visual depictions of “sexual conduct”. Any parent with a child enrolled in a public K-12 school in the state can challenge up to five titles a month if they feel they violate these terms.

When similar language was used in an Iowa bill passed in May 2023, an onslaught of book banning ensued. Classic titles, like Ulysses and Native Son, were removed from reading lists and libraries, marking a radical departure from the traditional literature taught in schools for decades.

“South Carolinians are less free today than they were yesterday,” Jace Woodrum, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in the state, told the Guardian.

“Superintendent Ellen Weaver has handed a blunt instrument to her ideological allies in the pro-censorship lobby. We still believe in academic freedom and will fight tooth and nail alongside teachers, librarians, students and parents against the ongoing campaign of harassment and intimidation in public schools and libraries.”

Shanna Miles, who grew up and went through the education system in South Carolina, never could have foreseen the state’s current climate. Like many school librarians nationwide, she thought that the literary censorship she heard of was just political theatre.

“It’s not just queer kids, it’s not just kids of color, it’s impacting all kids,” Miles said. “There is a great overreach with these organizations like Moms of Liberty because they want to govern not just what their children read, but what other children want to read.”

Miles has written three books as an author herself, often choosing to centralize her plot around a fictional teenage character. In The Fall of The House of Tatterly, a 12-year-old Black boy living in Charleston fights Confederate demons. Like many other writers, Miles uses her stories to draw on more extensive social and political themes.

While she isn’t so focused on her own books being banned, she is worried about the impact this censorship, and by proxy, its intimidation, will have on the future of librarians in the US.

“I’m more worried about soft censorship, like when librarians would be so afraid to purchase books with any kind of sexual content or Black kids on the cover because that makes them a target,” she said.

“That sends a cooling effect across the purchasing of queer, Black, and neurodivergent books.”

While the South Carolina Department of Education has issued guidance, some librarians are worried about future purchases in the face of these new restrictions. PEN America documented how, in other states, this climate of fear for teachers and librarians eventually led many to leave their jobs.

According to a Rand report, about a quarter of the teachers surveyed said limitations on topics related to race and gender influenced their teaching materials.

Tayler Simon, who is from South Carolina and founded Liberation is Lit, a bookselling company that aims to spark collective action and community among readers, agrees that the future under this legislation looks uncertain.

“South Carolina already has its issues with sex education in public schools, and limiting access to this material will further isolate students from exploring relationships in safe ways,” she said.

“I vehemently believe in the power of books and stories for students to see themselves reflected, see possibilities for their lives, and learn about their place in the world.”

• This article was amended on 3 July 2024. The new legislation is a regulation rather than a law. Descriptions of it as “vague”, “open to interpretation” and “deliberately inviting challenge” have been removed; as have incorrect statements that the regulation was not debated or voted upon by the state senate or house, and that librarians “have been left with little guidance” on how to proceed.