Patrons object to library's Pride month plans with taxpayer money

Yahoo

26-05-2025

A local library has planned an LGBTQ Pride Month event that doesn't sit right with some patrons.
Charles Trupe and Kristina Holden of Zionsville think Pride events normalize lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) lifestyles and are partially responsible for an increase in youth who identify as such.
And they think Zionsville's Hussey-Mayfield Memorial Public Library programs support the LGBTQ agenda.
Hussey-Mayfield has scheduled a program called Pride Speed Dating with a Book for June 11. June is LGBTQ Pride Month when that community recognizes a series of encounters between LGBTQ protestors and police over six days in 1969.
Each June, the LGBTQ community honors its members who were lost to hate crimes or HIV/AIDS and many participate in pride events, such as parades and concerts around the nation.
The Hussey-Mayfield Pride event was advertised on the library's online calendar for ages 13-18 and for adults, as of Monday. On Thursday, the age range had changed to only adults.
The event description reads, 'In celebration of Pride Month, discover the world of LGBTQIA+ [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual] lit[erature]…'
Hussey-Mayfield Director Kristin Shelley said Thursday the event was intended for adults only, and a librarian may have corrected an error online, if it was at first opened to 13-year-olds and older.
Shelley said speed dating with a book is just that, a date with books – not with people.
'It's a time to talk to staff about some of the books they've read and liked and a time of just being exposed to an array of books, characters, themes, or LGBTQ authors,' Shelley said. 'One of our core values is having the library open to all, so that everyone who walks through our doors sees themselves in some form or fashion. And we aren't questioning who walks in through our doors. They should see themselves in displays, materials, and programs.'
Last year the library sponsored a Pride party for sixth-graders through college students, Trupe said. The invitation read, in part, 'Whether you are gay, trans, an ally, or anything under the rainbow, you are welcome.'
Shelley said the library did have a party for teens through college aged patrons, providing cupcakes and showing the movie 'Love Simon,' a gay teenage romance rated PG13.
Department heads with master's degrees in library science develop programs for Hussey-Mayfield on topics that are beneficial to the entire community, Shelley said, adding, 'They base them on what's popular and trending, and I don't put many restrictions on what kind of programs we do. But I do ask them to be intentional about ages or grades.'
Likewise, Lebanon Public Library department heads schedule programs based on public interest, Director Beau Cunnyngham said. Lebanon has no pride events on the calendar, because 'June is the beginning of summer reading, and it's all hands on deck for that,' he said.
'I have never felt the need to put limitations on my program directors,' Cunnyngham said. 'They come up with programming to appeal to a wide range of people. I fully respect libraries attempting to get people into the door with a variety of programming.'
Trupe and Holden reminded Boone County Council members and Commissioners this month that they appoint some members to the library board and asked them to select conservative members in the future.
'Taxpayer dollars should not be used to promote the LGBTQ agenda,' Trupe told them. 'We need a strong library board that says 'no' to the library director when she proposes something like this.'
Trupe also objected to a display celebrating Transgender Visibility Day in March. The display was in the adult section, but within view of children, he said. One book cover had a photo of a boy wearing a girl's cheerleading uniform, he said.
'Professional librarians choose displays that people have asked about, or that are relevant to the date or month,' Shelley said, citing as an example, a recent display on romance that showed men and women on the covers. 'We really want this to be a welcoming and open space to all.'
Lebanon's collection also includes materials that appeal to the LGBTQ community and its needs and interests.
'Our materials cover a wide range of topics,' Cunnyngham said. 'We buy books based on regional and national popularity. There are few limits. If it's published by a children's publishing house, we buy it and put it in the collection. We're not going to censor that. It's an age-old practice among libraries.'
But both libraries have a formal complaint process for the public to object to materials.
Both have committees that review any complaints and a library board will then make a final decision. Cunnyngham remembers only eight or fewer complaints since he took the helm in Lebanon in 2015 and said no books were banned after review.
Shelley said that only a few people in Zionsville have complained about LGBTQ events and materials.
'The flip-side,' she said, 'is that I got far more supportive emails, like four times as many,' for last year's event.
'The support from the community has been absolutely amazing,' she said. 'I'm so happy that people are engaged in their public library.'