Pastors Fail in Attempt to Remove LGBTQ Books from Banned Books Display

A group of pastors in Maine has failed in its efforts to remove books they feel “promote homosexuality” and are “risque and immodest” from a local library display set up for—wait for it—Banned Books Week, the annual event to draw attention to the harms of censorship and celebrate the freedom to read. And for some of the library’s staff and patrons, the issue was very personal.

The three pastors—Dan Pearson of the Rumford Baptist Church, Justin Thacker of the Praise Assembly of God, and Father Nathan March of the Parish of the Holy Savior, all in Rumford, Maine—sent a letter to the Rumford Public Library on September 12, expressing their concerns about some of the books in the Banned Books Week display. Mary Ann May Fournier, a librarian there, took photos of the letters and display, which she was kind enough to let me share here.

The pastors begin by stating that they had become aware of “displays that we do not believe are appropriate for a public library serving the families and people of the River Valley area.” In particular, they are concerned about “A book that had two naked ladies on the cover [Nagata Kabi’s My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness]. Although there were no pornographic actions displayed, the cover would be considered risque and immodest by many. A number of the other books in the display were promoting homosexuality, such as the book Two Boys Kissing and others.”

You can see the books in the photo here. Other books on display with queer content include Queer: A Graphic History, by Meg-John Barker and Julia Scheele; The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, and picture book And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell.

The pastors go on to say these materials are inappropriate because “Children should not be subjected to an early sexualization.” In showing the materials, they feel the library is promoting “a far left political view that sees homosexuality as acceptable.” They then say that the library “should be sensitive to those of religions that find certain material offensive,” and state, “both the traditional biblical Christian and moderate Muslim religions find homosexuality offensive and against their beliefs…. As traditional biblical Christians we are convinced that if we had a Muslim community living here they would also be highly offended by the displays.”

They ask the library administration “to have a high standard of providing and displaying books and resources that are high quality and promote high moral standards, especially where children are concerned.”

At a library board meeting yesterday, they presented their case, but seemed to try and temper their position. Pearson said he wished the letter had not been made public before the meeting, as there were some things in it that he would have liked to revise. He apologized for “some of the wording” and said that their intent was not to ban any books. They would have had concerns about any sexual themes, “heterosexual” or “homosexual,” he added. He then explained, “Although it was a banned books display, those books on homosexuality were so prominently in the center, we felt it was—I felt, anyway, that it was promoting that LB—.” He searches for the letters; several audience members say “LGBTQ,” and Pearson continues, “LGBTQ agenda, which we just felt that the public library should be neutral in those matters.” He suggests that if the library is going to promote that, that they should also have a display promoting “healthy views—I’m sorry, what we believe would be a more biblical, conservative sexuality.”

Thacker said the letter was meant as “just a suggestion” and that he didn’t want to protest the library. “I’m not a man of hate. I help everybody, whether it’s homosexuality, fornication, adultery. I mean, I’m always helping people,” he said. He insisted that the library has “every right in the world to put those books upstairs” and his concern was just in the age-appropriateness for children. (Video clips of Pearson here, Thacker here, and both here, all posted by Fournier.)

Fournier, in an impassioned counter-argument (see video below), told the audience that she has been coming to the Rumford library almost every day since she was five years old. She noted that the display is in the adult (grown-up) section, which is on a different floor from the children’s section. If parents bring their children to the adult section, it is up to them to monitor what they see, she said. She then noted that the Banned Books display also contained the book Fifty Shades of Grey, which is much more sexually explicit than the titles the pastors mention—and similarly, another book displayed elsewhere in the adult section shows “a straight couple that is naked and embracing.” There was “no outrage in that,” however.

Fournier also spoke much more personally, noting that the situation has motivated her to come out as a member of the LGBT community. “I don’t want to hide. I don’t. I hid for a long time and I came out recently because of this,” she explained. She is worried about what her conservative father will think, but doesn’t want any other child or teen to feel the same shame she did about their identity.

Many other residents spoke at the meeting, and you can see them in Fournier’s footage here. Notable is a local high school teacher, who at about 11:20 in the video, speaks about her daughter’s friend, who has two moms. “Her friend having two moms doesn’t mean my daughter’s going to become a lesbian because maybe she saw the two moms kiss,” she asserts. “Your kids are going to school with kids who have two moms or two dads, so they are going to naturally have questions. That’s why I’m the mom. They say ‘What? Why is this? That’s why I’m there. So same thing if they see a book that they’re concerned about.”

This is hardly the first time LGBTQ library materials have come under fire from conservatives. The annual Banned Books Week offers additional yearly examples (and here’s a kerfuffle  I covered in depth 10 years ago).

There’s good news in this case, however. Library Director Tamara Butler confirmed to me via e-mail that “After a wonderful two-hour meeting…. the board voted to keep the books in question on the display.”

Author Katrina Ray-Saulis, who grew up in Rumford and had shared the letter on her Facebook page, told me by Facebook Messenger that she is “So pleased. Some of the people who spoke today were also some of the people I first came out to 20 years ago (including one of my high school teachers and my sister) so the whole day touched me greatly.”

Books matter. Representation matters. Community support matters. And librarians rock.

H/t National Coalition Against Censorship.