A Kansas library is in the middle of a debate on LGBTQ books. Its lease is now in jeopardy (msn.com)NOTE: All the City Commissioners mentioned are SSPX parishioners. The petition mentioned appears to contain many people from outside St. Mary's.It is a question that has transfixed and roiled hundreds of communities across the country and in Kansas as controversies over books on racial, gender and sɛҳuąƖ identity have re-ignited an age-old debate about the perils of banning books.In St. Marys, however, the future of the local public library has prompted an unusual question: Should city officials renew its lease?
The continuation of a months-long tussle over whether the town best known for its prominent Catholic academy should separate from the Pottawatomie Wabaunsee Regional Library system packed the city hall Tuesday and drew fierce debate from residents with sharply divided viewpoints over how the library should function in the 2,700-person community.
The initial debate stemmed from complaints that the library initially refused to remove the book “Melissa,” which tells the story of a fourth-grader who is grappling with her gender identity.The text drew pushback from at least one local resident and prompted a push from city commission members to add in a "morals clause" to the library's lease that would require any books on divisive matters, including LGBTQ and racial issues, be removed, an effort that was later abandoned.It did not, however stop debate over whether the city should open its own library and punt the regional branch, which is part of a system with eight locations funded by taxpayers in Pottawatomie and Wabaunsee counties
Commission members voiced concerns over national issues regarding racial, gender and sɛҳuąƖ identity coming to the shelves locally. Members agreed they had no issue with renewing the library's lease — but wanted to be sure it would remove other texts they found objectionable.
"I do not believe their standards have changed," said Francis Awerkamp, a city commissioner who also represents the area in the Kansas House. "I would like to have make sure their standards have changed and if their standards have not changed, I would be in full support of the city running its own library with our own standards."The idea has drawn pushback from library staff, with director Judith Cremer saying she was worked closely with elected officials to address concerns, saying "the library honestly has been very conservative in our collection."Gabby Gonzalez is a local teenager who said she struggles with self-acceptance and knows many of her peers who feel the same way.But the issue still prompted fierce debate, as it has for months. City Commissioner Richard Binsfield said believed transgender identity was "untrue," while a local resident compared it to "butchering" and said the books were "disgusting."City Commissioner Matthew Childs said he led the city commission down the path because he was worried about "drag queen story hours," where individuals in drag read books to children, coming to St Marys.Childs said he wanted to see a group be formed to advise the regional library system on whether texts or programs were acceptable.
"I'm not interested in ending the library," Childs said. "But I also don't want to say keep on going."
Awerkamp suggested a two- or three-month lease would be best to allow officials to oversee whether the library was committed to monitoring its collection.
Such a move, Kremer said, would make things "very difficult" and she worried about losing her staff members in the midst of the uncertainty.
"It is a tenuous situation," she told reporters after the meeting. "We don't know what to expect."
The debate makes St Marys part of an increasingly national trend. Thousands of books have been challenged nationally, according to a September report from PEN America, a national group promoting freedom of speech and the press. That includes 30 bans in Kansas, spread over at least two school districts, though the fight has brewed in far more parts of the state and has even seen legislators wade in and pass a bill, ultimately vetoed by Gov. Laura Kelly, to make it easier to challenge objectionable materials. Commissioners moved to continue the debate at their next meeting in early December, leaving precious little time before the lease expires at the end of the calendar year.
The library, she said, was a haven and helped to validate young people trying to expose themselves to new ideas.
"You can't get anywhere without having public acceptance and without having a place just to be yourself," Gonzalez said.
"We spend our whole career trying to take care of everyone that comes in our door," Cremer said. "And you're fighting a moral battle here, but we aren't in the battle. It may be out there, but it's not at the public library. If you're at the library, find some of those books for me because I know they're not there. We're not putting anybody in danger, we never started a battle."
Library officials told city commissioner members that the book in question had been removed from shelves, a move that briefly appeared to diffuse tensions on the issue.
Residents have also rallied in support of the library, with a Change.org petition notching nearly 1,500 signatures in opposition to axing the lease. Some of those individuals turned out at the commission meeting to make an impassioned plea to preserve the current library structure, arguing it was a crucial space for community members to access the internet, support children and senior citizens and even just find an audiobook for a long road trip.
"It looks like this thing has been resolved," siad Doyle Burle, a St Marys resident. "The people want a library as is and I would ask you please to consider that, for the unity of our community and bringing our community together. If you choose the other way, I see a wedge that will divide our community. So please, support the library."But Awerkamp, speaking to The Capital-Journal, said he makes no apologies for his beliefs, though he said the concerns of the library staff would be a consideration in determining the lease length.
"The broader issue is to consider how to make an improvement to the library service," he said. "That is the comment I've heard from parents as I've talked with them over last several months. They don't like these fights. But what they would like to do is have all this woke material removed so that we can really focus on making a great library for the community. And the woke material is destructive in every way, shape and form. And I will fight that woke ideology until the day I die."
Topic: St Mary's KS public library debate (Read 960 times)