Town fires librarian who worked there for 11 years because she refused to remove LGBTQ+ books

USA ONE@lemmy.world to politics @lemmy.world – 1165 points –
Town fires librarian who worked there for 11 years because she refused to remove LGBTQ+ books
lgbtqnation.com
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I dont understand, like how is the government compelled to break its own laws. Isnt library under free speech. I dont understand how such a failure of our institutions was able to happen.

It’s been a long and protracted fight. The Know Your Enemy podcast is a good place to revisit historical conservatism.

It's a topic I care about so I'll definitely start loading myself up on walking material.

That said, there's over 100 episodes and they're quite lengthy. Are there any episodes that stood out to you?

It'll all come with time, but I'd ideally like to prioritize what you felt had more impact or potential, if you recall at all.

The Rush Limbaugh ep is probably as good a place to start as any. That man had an outsized influence on conservative tactics.

A few things

  1. Some library boards, directors, and even librarians themselves, against all reason, are on the same page as these psychos about banning books. Especially boards.

  2. Millages. Libraries need the approval of the residents in their service area, or they won’t get money and will have to close.

  3. A lot of this is shut down by formal processes. The library I work for has had emails and phone calls about our materials, but zero formal requests to review any specific books. They want to make the noises they need to make to fit in with the culture, but don’t want to actually stick their necks out by doing something like filing paperwork with their name on it.

It’s a sticky situation, but unless you’re in a deep red area, you’re probably fine. My collections include graphic novels, so I have their main target, Gender Queer, in there, and I haven’t to take any action regarding it being challenged. I’m ready for when I do, though.