The County Press

LGBTQ book controversy may be revisited




LAPEER — The Lapeer District Library (LDL) Board has rescheduled a meeting that was cancelled Thursday, Feb. 16 in the meeting room at the Marguerite deAngeli Library in Lapeer. The seven-member Library Board will meet Thursday, March 16 at 5:30 p.m. at the Lapeer Center Building, 425 County Center St. (east of Bentley Street).

The Feb. 16 meeting was adjourned due to crowd capacity limits. The meeting room at the Marguerite deAngeli has a capacity of 45 persons, which was well exceeded by an overflow crowd who came to the meeting to voice their thoughts regarding a book titled Gender Queer. It was estimated nearly 100 people tried to attend last week’s meeting.

Gender Queer is a 2019 memoir written by LGBTQ author Maia Kobabe. LGBTQ is an acronym used to describe lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning persons. Some people who attended the adjourned meeting said afterwards that the 240-page book is too graphic and shouldn’t be in a public library, while others expressed concern that any book could be banned from library shelves — particularly one that talks about LGBTQ living. Gender Queer includes illustrations of masturbation and male-on-male oral sex.

The controversial book recounts Kobabe’s journey from adolescence to adulthood and the author’s exploration of gender identity and sexuality, ultimately identifying as being outside of the gender binary.

Gender Queer has been described as being at the center of a larger wave of challenges to books with LGBTQ content, including other examples like Lawn Boy and All Boys Aren’t Blue. The American Library Association ranked it as the most challenged book in 2021. In illustrated panels in Gender Queer, readers learn about Kobabe feeling physically different from a young age but unable to openly express it.

LDL Director Amy Churchill cleared last week’s agenda to allow citizens to address the board regarding Gender Queer and other books at the library. Citizens who attend the March 16 meeting will have three minutes to comment. The meeting will not be a two-way conversation. The LDL Board will listen to comments, but they are not obligated to answer citizen concerns or questions. They will take the comments into advisement.

Churchill said the Gender Queer book was requested by a library patron. It has been taken out by a patron, and has not been returned. The LDL has only one copy of Kobabe’s book.

According to the LDL’s website, the job description and duties of trustees include to select and hire a director, secure adequate funding for the library’s service program, exercise fiduciary responsibility for the use of public and private funds, adopt policies and rules regarding library governance and use, regularly plan and evaluate the library’s service program, promote the library in the local community and in society in general, establish clear by-laws for the library board, and conduct the business of the library in an open and ethical manner in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations. A trustee makes a personal commitment to contribute the time and energy to faithfully carry out these duties. Although the Board is legally responsible for all aspects of the institution, “it is unreasonable to expect a trustee or the whole Board to be expert on every activity or concern that affects the library. Sometimes the most important thing a Board can do is acknowledge that it does not have enough information or resources, and ask for help.”

The March meeting will conduct the business of both the February and March LDL board meetings. An updated agenda will be posted to the LDL website www.library. lapeer.org at least three days prior to the March 16 meeting.