Warren County tries to control local library in LGBTQ+ book debate

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Warren County tries to control local library in LGBTQ+ book debate

The library and county supervisors are locked in a stalemate that could cause the library to close in October even though it is in the midst of a banner year

By Gregory S. Schneider
September 15, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

FRONT ROYAL — Time is running out for Samuels Public Library. ... Faced with a choice between giving Warren County political leaders the power to block LGBTQ+ books from reaching young readers or running out of operating funds at the end of September, the library board Thursday night rejected county control. ... The decision leaves the library and the county board of supervisors locked in a stalemate that could cause the library to close its doors in October even though it is in the midst of a banner year, with visitors up 15 percent and the number of donors up 25 percent from 2022.

Library and county officials plan to meet next week for their first full, face-to-face negotiations after months of acrimony. “I saw a couple of areas for negotiation without sacrificing what makes this library as great as it is,” Samuels interim director Eileen Grady said Thursday evening after library trustees met in closed session with two county supervisors.

[ Public libraries are the latest front in culture war battle over books ]

Warren County supervisors, under pressure from a group of conservative activists who want to remove LGBTQ+ materials from children’s sections of the library, withheld three-quarters of Samuels’s operating funds from the budget that went into effect July 1. Library leaders tightened parental controls, but the activists’ attacks broadened, until the county proposed a fundamental change in the way the library operates.

If the library cedes greater control to the county over which books stay and go, the budget woes would go away. But the Samuels board of trustees voted 11-1 Thursday to stand their ground, defending their book selection policies as protecting the interests of vulnerable minority groups in the community and fairly representing everyone. ... “We don’t want to get sued and we don’t want to discriminate,” library trustees president Melody Hotek said earlier in an interview with The Post. “So we’re holding the line.”

{snip}

By Gregory S. Schneider
Greg Schneider covers Virginia from the Richmond bureau. He was The Washington Post's business editor for more than seven years, and before that served stints as deputy business editor, national security editor and technology editor. He has also covered aviation security, the auto industry and the defense industry for The Post. Twitter https://twitter.com/SchneiderG

[bucolic_frolic]

1. We enter The Dark Ages. Remember knowledge went underground to monasteries, religious

organizations. Much of ancient mathematics was only saved by Arab institutions. Soon we will be communicating secretly about the books we want to buy and read, and we're so vulnerable in the digital age.

[cbabe]

2. How would the community react if the library did close? I

bet many are not aware or supportive of the few loud mouth magats.

Take away *all* books, internet, other services, etc. And then watch out.

[LastDemocratInSC]

3. Excellent coverage of this issue is available at

nvdaily.com and royalexaminer.com

The Royal Examiner site has full videos of library board meetings and County supervisors meetings at which there are citizen comment periods. It's an acrimonious topic in the community. I lived there for many years. There's a right-wing religious community in the county and they are attempting an across-the-board political coup. The attack on the library is one of their strategies.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. Thanks. I did not know that.

Oh, it's that Christendom College. An elderly woman across the street was into that. When she died, it was requested that a donation be made to Christendom College. My mom did so. We were on the mailing list for years.

[LastDemocratInSC]

5. Also known as "Bob Jones on the Shenandoah"