A Michigan town may lose its only library after its staff refused to remove an LGBTQ book

When a library staff in a west Michigan township refused to remove its books containing LGBTQ themes, residents voted to defund their only library. 

The Patmos Library in Jamestown Township, outside of Grand Rapids, lost 85% of its operating budget after an Aug. 2 vote when its funding was up for renewal. A conservative Christian group had campaigned against the library because of books it has deemed inappropriate for children. 

The issue will be back on the ballot in November — one last time to save the library — when residents will vote again on the millage. If it doesn't pass, the library will likely close. 

The saga illustrates a growing trend of book banning debates across the country that center on LGBTQ books. While banning books is a decades-old practice, conservative groups have recently focused on removing ones that center on sexuality and gender identity, along with race and religion. 

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This fight has come to a head at Patmos. 

“They’re protesting all LGBTQ books that are on our shelves,” said Larry Walton, library board president. "They want it to ban books, which is unacceptable. We, the board, will not ban the books.”

Out of about 67,000 materials, about 90 pieces "could be relative to LGBTQ," Walton said, which is just 0.001% of the library's collection.

Ahead of the millage vote, a Christian group called Jamestown Conservatives placed large signs in the township urging residents to vote no , citing concerns the library was "grooming" children with books containing explicit material and LGBTQ themes. 

"Our tax dollars should never be spent (on) grooming children," Jamestown Township resident Donna Rotman said at an Aug. 8 board meeting. "The content in some of the books contains graphic sexual dialogue and narratives. No child has an innate sense of being genderqueer or gender fluid. It is manipulative, destructive and wrong. A library that pushes this agenda is disrespectful." 

The book that sparked the controversy at Patmos is called "Gender Queer: A Memoir," a graphic novel by Maia Kobabe that details her experiences exploring gender identity and sexuality. It is the most commonly banned book, according to an analysis from PEN America, a literary and free-speech organization.

Patmos Library refused to ban "Gender Queer" but did remove it from its spot in the adult section and placed it behind the counter. Interested readers would have to specifically ask for it.

Residents also wanted to ban “Kiss Number 8" and "Spinning," both graphic novels that depict girls realizing they want to kiss other girls, Bridge Michigan reported. Neither contains nudity.

Jamestown resident Connor Cook, 25, said he witnessed homophobia growing up in the township as queer, but the failed millage was still a "gut punch.” 

Cook volunteered at the library during the summer and said Patmos was a safe space for him to learn — a place where he could be himself. He was homeschooled and said he had limited access to resources, so the library helped him "explore the world on my terms."

"We walk around our world every day, surrounded by hate directed toward specific groups of people, and most of us have the privilege to ignore it, including myself," he said. This decision to defund the library "was like waking up one morning realizing they came for your home."

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A town with no library

If Patmos Library closes, the roughly 8,000 Jamestown residents won't have access to a nearby library and the resource it provides, like reliable WiFi. Libraries outside the area charge up to $150 in fees for nonresident cards, said Cierra Bakovka, a former librarian at Patmos.

"Libraries are one of the last social places in our world where there doesn't exist the expectation to spend money, so that freedom to be able to go and pick up a movie for the night and not have to pay to rent it, or taking out a board game for family game night, or kids going to use the computers to research for projects, that all stops," she said.

Bakovka said removing LGBTQ books or putting them behind a counter sends a message that people who want to read those books or identify with characters in the books are not fit to be in public. 

"Any type of collection should feature both windows and mirrors," Bakovka said. "Mirrors are the materials you see yourself in ... so you see representation of yourself. But the windows are also important because they show you what life is like for other people who are different than you, and it gives you a more rounded perspective of the world and the community and everything outside your little bubble."

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Not an isolated issue

Jamestown isn't the only place in Michigan where book banning debates are heating up. Across the state in in Milan, parents have showed up to school board meetings to ban books with what they deem to be sexually explicit content. In Hillsdale, residents tried to ban books containing transgender themes, including "Harry Potter," Bridge Michigan reported. 

The Michigan State Board of Education faces similar complaints. At its Aug. 9 meeting, parent after parent used the public comment time to discuss banning books they consider inappropriate. 

Bree Moeggenberg, chair of the Isabella County chapter of Moms for Liberty, said any discussion of sexuality should take place only during sex education classes, which parents can opt their children out of. Moms for Liberty is a growing group embraced by the GOP establishment that, under the "parental rights" banner, works to sway school board races and district policies nationwide 

Tammy Gombar, a public commenter from Rockford, wanted to ban a book that contained what she called “alternate sexuality,” “alternate gender ideology,” profanity, alcohol use and “inflammatory religious commentary.”   

Mount Pleasant resident Jamie Martinez said she believes that schools are no longer a safe place for children.  

"I believe schools have overstepped in their role and position of educating our children, especially but not solely on the topic of sexuality and gender identity," she said at the board meeting.

There are Facebook groups, including Mary in the Library, that post books along with detailed notes, page numbers and quotes of the controversial content. 

Carol Dawe — director of the Lakeland Library Cooperative, of which Patmos is a member — said she has seen more of a cohesive movement to ban books recently.  

"There are also a lot of challenges on the LGBTQ+ books," she said. "It seems kind of like a concerted effort to do this."

Meanwhile, GoFundMe started for the Patmos Library had raised over $178,000 as of Friday, which is over half of the $245,000 the library would lose if the millage fails again.

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Is it legal?

Books have been banned for decades, including what we now consider literary classics, including "To Kill a Mockingbird," "The Catcher in the Rye" and "The Grapes of Wrath."

A report by PEN America found that most challenged books center on race and LGBTQ characters. 

The legal implications surrounding the Patmos Library and book banning in general are complex. 

Don Herzog, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, said he wouldn't be surprised if someone tries to challenge the potential closing of the library. But it would likely fail because the courts cannot order people to fund a millage, and if a court can't order a remedy, a judge likely won't even hear the case. 

When it comes to banning books, it gets even trickier. 

"If the government said, no one in the jurisdiction may read 'Malcolm X' or buy 'Malcolm X' or own 'Malcolm X,' that's unconstitutional," Herzog said. 

However, First Amendment law has a category called obscenity that the government can regulate — but lots of sexually explicit content does not qualify as obscenity and is still protected by the law, he said. 

When it comes to school libraries, Herzog said school boards have control over the curriculum, but libraries have more freedom. In Board of Education v. Pico, a school board removed books from its libraries but the Supreme Court deemed it was a First Amendment violation to remove books simply because they dislike the ideas in the books. 

However, they can remove a book if it is deemed "pervasively vulgar."

Libraries are under no obligation to get a controversial book in the first place, and they use carefully curated collection development policies to determine what books to get.

"We as librarians, and as public libraries, provide access to all," Dawe said. "We have no agenda, we try to have something for everyone. ... You walk in, you get what you want. You might find some things offensive, you might find other things that you like, but what you might find offensive, I might really like and vice versa. And that's OK."

Holland Sentinel reporter Audra Gamble contributed to this report.

Contact Emma Stein: estein@freepress.com and follow her on Twitter @_emmastein.