Town Defunds Library Over LGBTQ Book. Resident Raises $250,000 to Re-Fund It
What Happens When Book Bans Meets Everyday Readers
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Since school’s back in session, it’s time for a pop quiz that all students of a certain age can answer: What temperature does paper burn at?
The answer is found in the title of sci-fi novelist Ray Bradbury’s 1953 dystopian classic (and summer reading favorite), Fahrenheit 451. The novel presents an unimaginable future of American society in which books are outlawed and burned by marauding firemen. The novel won the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award, and the Retro Hugo Award.
But it is a mark of the book’s dark ability to foretell the future that in 2022, nearly 70 years after its publication, the novel’s central premise is still scorching through society.
As I’ve been discussing in this space for nearly a year, book banning has been getting worse in America. A report from PEN America this spring found that 1,145 unique books were targeted between July 2021 and March 2022, representing 845 authors. The challenges took place in 86 school districts in 26 states covering two million students. The assault on free speech has become so bad that librarians have begun fighting back.
But it’s not just schools that are feeling the burn. Town libraries have been under attack, too. And in recent weeks, the ones fighting back have not been librarians but everyday citizens.
In Michigan, last month, residents of the small western town of Jamestown (population 10,000) voted to de-fund the Patmos Library in nearby Hudsonville, which serves Jamestown and the surrounding area. The ballot measure to stop all tax funds from supporting the library passed with nearly two-thirds of the vote. The result is that the annual budget of $245,000 was wiped out.
Patmos Library, photo credit Bridge Michigan
As the Washington Post reported, the 22-year-old library used to host birthday parties, bridal showers, and blood drives, and residents praised it as a haven for all ages.
Controversy erupted last November when some residents objected to the availability of books that explored LGBTQ themes, including the graphic novel Gender Queer. A group of local conservatives started a Facebook group and began spreading fliers saying the library peddled “PORNOGRAPHIC MATERIALS” and that the community must address “these evils.” Signs appeared around town saying local tax dollars were being used to “GROOM our kids.” The library pushed back, saying only 90 of their 67,000 books had an LGBTQ keyword, but the community responded with the ballot measure.
As Larry Walton, the library’s board president, told local news site Bridge Michigan, “The library is the center of the community. For individuals to be short-sighted to close that down over opposing LGBTQ is very disappointing.”
But the story then took an unexpected twist.
Two days after the vote, Jesse Dillman, a Jamestown resident and father of two launched an online fundraiser to help raise the $245,000 to keep the library open.
“I am very passionate about this, and I have people that are behind me,” Dillman told NBC. “I have to do it now, because the iron is hot.”
Photo credit The Hill
How hot? By the end of the month, the fundraiser had attracted more than 4,000 donors and passed its $245,000 goal. Dillman took to the page to especially thank romance novelist Nora Roberts, who donated $50,000.
In a comment left on the GoFundMe page, Roberts wrote that she would have donated more, but “50k is the limit GoFundMe allows for donations. If you’re short of your goal, please contact me. I’ll make up the rest.”
“What an amazing day this has been,” Dillman said, “I can't believe we are right on the edge of meeting our funding goal!” He thanked Roberts and the press for sharing the community’s story.
“And of course I want to thank all 4K+ donors here on this GoFundMe! Every one of you has been a part of the movement to end the ignorance and hate that threatened our library and our community here in Jamestown. THANK YOU.”
451 degrees may be the temperature at which paper burns, but 4,300 donors is the temperature at which it’s restored to life.
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Or check out my books that inspired this newsletter: Life Is in the Transitions and The Secrets of Happy Families.
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Cover image courtesy of styf22 from Getty Images via Canva