SUFFIELD — Today, the ACLU of Connecticut, Equality Connecticut, and the Out Accountability Project join librarians, families, and advocates at a meeting of the Kent Memorial Library Commission's policy subcommittee — part of the decision-making body for the public library in Suffield — to oppose a set of deleterious policies designed to stifle freedom of thought and inquiry and promote an extremist, anti-LGBTQIA+ agenda.
The draft policies address book acquisition and retention in the Youth Collection at the library, and make inflammatory claims about "gender identity ideology" as a nebulous boogeyman for content the Commission can deem developmentally inappropriate. The policy draft cites several books it finds inappropriate, and makes use of a 2024 scientific report about gender dysphoria in youth that has been rejected by many of the nation and world's leading medical colleges and organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Endocrine Society of the United States, and Yale Law School.
"People in Connecticut count on their public libraries to be mind-opening resources for learning, community and civic engagement, skill building, and information gathering," said Matt Blinstrubas, executive director at Equality Connecticut. "There's no reason to restrict stories and content that include LGBTQIA+ people in books available to children. There are plenty of developmentally appropriate books for every age that teach us to embrace diversity and remind us all that LGBTQIA+ people are part of our families and communities. This is very clearly an attempt to enshrine extremist ideology into library policy. The people of Connecticut won't allow LGBTQIA+ exclusion, and specifically the exclusion of transgender people from our learning or our lives."
"Communities thrive when they are represented in their town, including in the books on their library shelves," said Melissa Combs, executive director of the Out Accountability Project. "This so-called 'policy' sends a dangerous message to LGBTQ+ youth that their safety, security and education is not a priority in Suffield. Young readers deserve better."
"We have sent a letter to the Commission explaining specifically several of the issues with the policy draft language," said B. Rae Perryman, director of communications for ACLU of Connecticut. "Siphoning out LGBTQIA+ content in the name of 'protecting minors' is a disingenuous tactic directly from the authoritarian playbook. Public libraries are a social good, and the places where democracy works directly in our communities. Scapegoating one group of people in an attempt to control freedom of thought and inquiry is not a winning method. The ACLU of Connecticut urges the Commission to reject the policy."
The meeting does not have a public comment portion, but the ACLU of Connecticut has provided the following letter to the Commission and other relevant parties.
