Conservatives try to end county’s libraries after failing to ban 11 books

A rural county in eastern Washington state will soon be voting on whether to dissolve the local library after library officials refused right-wing activists’ demands to remove over 11 books dealing with LGBTQ+ issues, consent, and themes of racism.

“Whether there can be short-term appeasement on this issue is immaterial, because in the process of dealing with it, a greater truth has been revealed that this public library is an irretrievably compromised entity, and it needs to be removed from our midst,” several activists trying to dissolve the Columbia County Rural Library District said in a statement in favor of their ballot initiative that was obtained by the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin.

Last year, activists opposed 11 books, including Juno Dawson’s This Book is Gay, Frederick Joseph’s The Black Friend, and Yes! No! A First Conversation about Consent by Megan Madison, Jessica Ralli, and Isabel Roxas. The activists attempted to challenge the books to remove them from the Dayton Memorial Library, a part of the Columbia County Rural Library District. The library board went through its review process and decided to keep the books on the library’s shelves.

People flooded a local board meeting after the board decided to keep the books…

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