Say it: Bigotry is why library closed
Wildlife surrounds us
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The Glens Falls city flagpole in City Park near Ridge Street will be flying the Pride flag for June.
The Rockwell Falls Public Library in Lake Luzerne, closed last fall by the behavior of a pastor and others who objected to the scheduling of a drag queen story hour, has reopened.
I’m celebrating our progress toward acceptance of people who are lesbians, gay, bisexual, trans or who otherwise do not fit into traditional categories of sexual orientation and/or gender roles.
But I do wonder why it has to be so hard.
In Glens Falls, Cam Cardinale, president of Lower Adirondack Pride, asked city officials for months about flying the Pride flag in June, which is National Pride Month. Finally, Mayor Bill Collins took up the request at a public meeting, but only to suggest that a recent Supreme Court decision in Boston made it inadvisable.
It took months of debate and the persistence and patience of Councilwoman Diana Palmer to get to a unanimous vote by the Common Council to allow the flying of certain commemorative flags, including the Pride flag, on one of the city’s flagpoles.
Citizens weighed in over the months, and one comment I saw often was that only the U.S. flag should fly on the city's flagpoles. This argument was odd, since Glens Falls was already flying the POW-MIA flag along with the U.S. flag from the two flagpoles near City Hall.
At the Rockwell Falls library, the scheduling last year of a drag queen story hour alarmed some residents, leading to protests, cancellation of the event and election to the library board of a pastor, Josh Jacquard.
Jacquard led an inquisition of the library’s board and its employees, causing so many of them to quit that the library had to close.
Now, even though the library has reopened with mostly new board members and a new librarian, I doubt any of them will dare to suggest scheduling another drag queen story hour.
This is how the intolerant win culture wars on the ground even when they have officially lost: by making life so unpleasant for their opponents, they abandon the fight.
The fiasco in Rockwell Falls lasted through months of accusations, recriminations and resignations, plus a lot of humbug from Jacquard about how he was just trying to improve the library and serve the community.
It has ended with a board so intimidated by the harassment that preceded it, current members refuse to talk about what happened.
“All three new members were like-minded about the events of the past nine months, which have caused controversy and turmoil throughout the community, and led to the library’s closure in September,” says a Dec. 21 Post-Star story by Alex Portal.
“‘That’s like ancient history,’” Hartley said. “‘New day. And we’re all on board with the same goal, which is to get this library open as quickly as we can.’”
“Hartley” refers to Maggie Hartley, one of the three new board members, who worked for many years as an editor for the Schenectady Gazette.
One year is not ancient history, as I’m sure she would have asserted, too, when she was working in journalism. Nor is it possible to create a new day without admitting and addressing what created the old day’s bad conditions.
Bigotry toward gay and trans people is what put the library out of business.
I understand the new board members fear reigniting the community’s ugly behavior by confronting it.
But I’m perplexed by the coverage from the Post-Star, which, since the start of December, has published five substantial stories about the library without mentioning why it shut down.
The stories ran from Dec. 14 to May 9, and they reference “hostility,” “tumult,” “controversy,” “tumultuous vitriol,” “anger” and “frustration,” but never explain what caused all this upheaval.
It’s as if “tumult’ were a force of nature, unconnected to human behavior, that at some point last year blew its way through the library doors, wreaking havoc.
I asked Alex Portal, the reporter who wrote four of the five stories and Steve Thurston, the paper’s editor, why the conflict’s cause was being avoided, and neither had much of an explanation.
Thurston cited “space and time restraints,” which makes no sense, since these stories were long, space is virtually unlimited online, and it would have taken very little time to put together a few paragraphs of background.
Both of them said “other issues” had become important to the protesters, but the five stories don’t say what those issues were, either.
The primary motivation for Jacquard and his fellow crusaders was and is opposition to LGBT books and programming. It’s a shame the board is engaged in whitewashing this truth, but it’s malpractice for local journalists to go along.
Homophobia and anti-trans prejudice must be called out or they will strengthen. The price of reopening the library should not be silence in the face of bigotry.
Creatures
We don’t live in the wilderness, but we’re surrounded by wildlife, nonetheless. Bella and Ringo and I are going for lots of walks these days. We keep our eyes and ears open, and we see creatures everywhere.
Thank you, Will, for writing the truth about what happened at the Rockwell Falls
Library, and its inadequate journalistic coverage. Although the conflict may have been ignited by the prospect of a drag queen story hour, its foundation was much deeper. One board member's mission seemed to be "protection" of the community from its non-binary citizens. At a library board meeting he lamented the absence of a bible on the shelves (certainly in evidence) and the presence of "books with pictures of 'naked people.' " It became clear he was referring to books meant for younger LGBTQ readers who often have serious self-doubts which sometimes eventuate in suicides. The "Public" in "Public Library" signals a welcome to all. Perhaps a book can save a life. Book banning is a fascist activity. The Post-Star reportage seemed inexplicably distorted.
I'm happy our library has reopened, and its new board seems to understand that it needs to reflect reality and welcome all its readers.
Space and time constraints??? They repeat everything 4 times now in the Post Star-even the comics!
"This is how the intolerant win culture wars on the ground even when they have officially lost: by making life so unpleasant for their opponents, they abandon the fight." Exactly-at every level now of our society. Whole communities have been encouraged and feel safe enough by the numbers to be bullies. My children have been brought up to believe that all are equal and valuable. I tried to explain to my oldest daughter this week how hard it was to start out with little tolerance and see through a lifetime (gradually) the independence of women, the appreciation and respect for individuality that developed over generations, all to be lost in a short 8 years. I know it wasn't perfect or complete, but we have lost so much over the last decade due to one person and his admirers.