An entire library board just disbanded over a single trans book
The Randolph County Board of Commissioners disbanded the nine-member library board. [Stock pic] (Canva)
The Randolph County Board of Commissioners disbanded the nine-member library board. [Stock pic] (Canva)
An entire library board in North Carolina has disbanded over a single trans book.
The Randolph County Board of Commissioners dissolved its nine-member library board over a picture book about a trans boy, which initially caused backlash because it was located in the children’s section.
County spokesperson Amy Rudisill said the governing body for the county made the 3-2 decision earlier this week, hearing from about 40 people.
The illustrated book, titled “Call Me Max”, tells the story of a young trans boy who begins to make friends as he comes to terms with his identity. It is even described as a “sweet and age-appropriate introduction to what it means to be transgender,” by its author, Stonewall award-winning Kyle Lukoff, who is trans.
The disbanding of the library board follows a patron asking for it to be moved away from, or placed higher up in, the children’s section earlier this year. In October, the library board denied the request, leading the county’s board of commissioners to take over the library board and dissolve it.
‘It’s a very dramatic response’
Executive director of the conservative North Carolina Values Coalition, Tim Fitzgerald, claimed that the book “teaches children that their parents may be wrong about their gender, and that their gender is actually whatever they feel it is”.
“Planting this lie in a child’s mind at a young age can lead them down a harmful path of social and medical transitioning,” he added.
Director of the Freedom to Read program at PEN America, Kasey Meehan, said the decision to demobilise the county’s library board over a controversial book is a severe one.
“It’s a pretty dramatic response to wanting to have diverse and inclusive books on shelves,” she added, as per The Washington Post.
Meehan explained that the book has been banned by three school districts and also nationally by the Department of Defence in their military schools.
In response to the decision, author Lukoff, who is trans, told The Washington Post: “Policies can be helpful, but this is ultimately a question of power.
“If there are people in power who simply believe trans people don’t belong in their communities or the world at large, they will simply twist those policies to try and make it a reality.”
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