Residents push back against a Kansas town's threat to kick out library over 'divisive' books

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Following public outcry about censorship, the St. Marys City Commission decided to table a vote on renewing the Pottawatomie Wabaunsee Regional Library’s lease.

The lease is under threat because the library refused to comply with the commission’s request to remove all LGBTQ, sexual, racial or otherwise “socially divisive” content from its shelves.

But with the lease ending in December, the library is still in a precarious situation.

Every chair in the commission meeting room was filled for Tuesday night’s discussion about the library, with residents lined up against the walls to listen to debate. The majority of residents who spoke said they wanted the library to stay open.

Tom Graham, a veteran who has lived in St. Marys since 1970, said he had worked with LGBTQ people in the military. Graham said residents should accept that gay people exist, and that residents could simply exercise their option as parents to monitor what their children read in the library.

“Face it. Society is society. And that’s the way it goes,” Graham said. “You’ve got to accept it. You don’t have to appreciate it, but turn your head. But the library can control stuff up there. Put your kids on the list to have something removed. Please do not close the library.”

Commission members said they would vote on whether or not to renew the lease at a Dec. 6 meeting. The library’s lease ends Dec. 31. If the lease isn’t renewed, the library will have to pack everything and move to a different town because there is no other space in St. Marys suitable to accommodate everything."...