Town Defunds Library After Fight Over LGBTQ Novel
LGBTQ novel that was available in the library.According to Bridge Michigan, voters in the Jamestown Township voted against a millage that was used to fund the Patmos Library in the town.
The tax was rejected in a vote of 62 percent to 37 percent, Bridge Michigan reported.The vote to remove funding from the library came shortly after many voters criticized the library for the graphic novel Gender Queer: A Memoir that was in the adult section.
In the spring, many of the town's residents attended board meetings to demand the book be removed from shelves, but instead the library placed it behind the counter so it wasn't accessible to children, Bridge Michigan reported.While speaking with Bridge Michigan following the vote, Patmos Library Board President Larry Walton said, "I wasn't expecting anything like this.""The library is the center of the community.
For individuals to be short-sighted to close that down over opposing LGBTQ is very disappointing," Walton told Bridge Michigan.Prior to the vote on Tuesday, many of the residents opposed to the LGBTQ novel in the library created a group called the Jamestown Conservatives.
