As of November 2022, several members of the Crawford County Library System (CCLS) Board have actively and discretely been campaigning to ban LGBTQ books from their libraries. In doing so, these board members have attempted to spread extremely harmful and hateful anti-queer rhetoric, and have made continual efforts to achieve their goals. Most notably on January 10, 2023, the CCLS Board held a meeting where the newly elected board chair announced her plan to change library policy, and to give the board the power to approve or disapprove all books that make it to the shelves. This is highly irregular, and problematic in its own right, but is especially horrible considering the chair is spearheading this LGBTQ book ban. While the board did not hold a vote to approve this policy, they did schedule a vote for March, meaning we have time to take action!

There are hundreds of LGBTQ people in Crawford County and the River Valley who will suffer from this ban. Books are the ultimate form of knowledge, and for queer people are a form of liberation. Banning LGBTQ literature is blatant censorship, no matter how you cut it, and it gives permission to silence the queer community. If we allow this to happen today, tomorrow, local and state governments will continue to pass policy that will be detrimental to the LGBTQ community. Instead, we must fight to make sure that our rights are not trampled on and demand respect from those in positions of power. 

By you signing this petition, we are able to do exactly that, and will show that many in the Crawford County area do not approve of this book ban. Please get as many people as you know to sign, share, and post this petition so that we can fight for the LGBTQ community!