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

A pattern of outrage and outside influence has ended with the head of the local library in Gillette, Wyoming getting fired.

In late July, the board of the Campbell County Public Library system voted four to one to terminate library director Terri Lesley, in the job for 11 years and an employee in the system since 1996.

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The attack follows a “regrettable” tweet from the new president of the American Library Association.

The veteran librarian refused to remove books written for teens with LGBTQ+ content.

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“They’ve manufactured this crisis,” Lesley told HuffPost about the board. “Their claims have no substance and lack any credible support.”

The “crisis” began in the spring of 2021, following Donald Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election and amid escalating anti-democratic and anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric among far-right conservatives.

Angry residents in Gillette confronted library staff over alleged sexual content in books in the teen and kids section, targeting titles like How Do You Make a Baby by Anna Fiske and Doing It by Hannah Witton.

They complained about a Pride Month blog post written by a teen volunteer celebrating LGBTQ+ authors.

And they lost it when the library hired a trans magician for a summer program.

“That was the match that lit the tinder box,” said one library employee who requested anonymity.

At a board meeting in October, one angry resident claimed her personal survey of the teen section revealed 60% of the books were “witchcraft.” Another said Gillette’s library had become an “indoctrination center.”

Over two years of chaotic board meetings and library confrontations, and with the guidance of the Library Council, a Florida-based, far-right organization, residents challenged 29 books, including frequent targets in the culture war like Gender Queer, the award-winning memoir by Maia Kobabe, Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison, and This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson.

Last October, the library board voted to cut ties with the American Library Association, a staunch defender of First Amendment rights, after dropping anti-censorship policies from library standards and adding language on removing “sexually explicit” material in order to protect children.

“The ALA is a self-proclaimed socialist Marxist, activist group, and they’ve said this over and over, so this has absolutely nothing to do with targeting LGBTQ ideology or anyone’s lifestyles, which is the ALA narrative,” library board member Charles Butler told Wyoming Public Media about the revised standards.

When Lesley wouldn’t follow the new guidance, the board voted to terminate her.

“Public libraries are for everyone,” she said. “Our collection should serve all citizens of the community.”

“I’ve worked here for a long time, and it felt like it was a respected and well-funded institution,” said another anonymous Gillette library staffer. “Sure, we’re a red community in a red state, but a lot of the people who have real roots here are angry that the library has been attacked.”