York County group takes stand in debate over placement of controversial books in library

A York County group has taken a stand against efforts to move books in the public library that deal with topics about gender identity and sexual orientation, and are described by some as inappropriate.

Community Advocates for Public Education (CAPE) was founded in January to ensure that state and local legislation doesn’t negatively impact public education. The group organized through Facebook and advocates for teachers, students and public education.

“We are parents, educators, and community members who have come together to support public education, and that includes our students who utilize and access our public libraries,” said Lacey Layne, a CAPE founding organizer and Fort Mill educator.

Another CAPE organizer and Fort Mill mom, Katherine Gutteridge started a petition to stop censorship in York County public libraries.

“I became aware of the library issue in May when a councilman used a portion of the meeting for council member comment to advise of his feelings about certain books that are in our York County libraries,” Gutteridge said.

“We decided to create the petition because we felt that it was a loud minority that was informing the council of this issue. We wanted the voice of other community members to be heard.”

The petition was started on May 3 and as of late this week had more than 2,000 signatures.

Placement of books questioned

This spring County Council Member Tom Audette raised questions about where some books can be found in the public library.

The books, which are in the children’s section of the library, deal with subjects related to sexual orientation and gender identity.

Audette has said he supports moving the books from the children’s section to a different area. The library board decided recently that the books will not be relocated.

Gutteridge provided The Herald with e-mails she said was from Audette. The e-mail mentions how this issue may hurt library budget requests.

Efforts this week to reach Audette for comment or to verify the e-mail have been unsuccessful.

“There is a community outrage about books promoting gender identity/sexual movement on children/youth being put in the York County Libraries. This is a major issue,” the e-mail states.

“Because of all of this, I will be requesting that we look at defunding the York County Libraries as part of our upcoming budget talks.”

York County finalized it’s annual budget in late June.

Audette cited community concerns as his reason for speaking out.

Layne said she has been met with frustration trying to reach local council members.

“The unfortunate part of this particular issue, which has become kind of a hot button issue in our community, is that I haven’t gotten any responses or replies via e-mail, and I’ve been e-mailing our council members for about two months now over this issue. That’s a concern for me as a citizen,” Layne said.

Layne shared Gutteridge’s convictions about library censorship.

“I don’t think there are any five-year-olds that waltz into the library and check out a book alone without a parent in tow, so I understand that there are books that maybe don’t align with Council member Audette’s personal ideologies and the personal ideologies of some families in our community, but the great thing about libraries is they are a safe space and place for everyone,” Layne said.

“I should be able to count on our county council members to make decisions that are in the best interest of the entire community, not make decisions that will get the people that typically vote for them to continue to vote for them, and that’s what it feels like.”

Gutteridge said that elected councils should have no jurisdiction over where books in the library are placed.

“No one should be deciding outside of the library professionals who are tasked with keeping all of our children safe which books are available to the children of our community,” Gutteridge said.

Sensitive to LGBTQ community

Gutteridge and Layne say they’re worried that removing LGBTQ+ books from children’s spaces in public libraries will have a negative impact on members of the community who identify as LGBTQ+.

“When I think about locating books from the children’s section into another section, I see that as marginalizing a whole part of our community,” Layne said.

“If you’ve reviewed some of these books yourself like I have, they’re really great books that can help kids to see themselves and their families within the books and make concepts really easy for them to understand. So having these books in the appropriate sections is important.”

One of the books under review that Layne examined was “Pink, Blue, and You! “ by Elise Gravel and Mykaell Blais. She said the picture book combats gender stereotypes in children, arguing that it’s OK for boys to be emotional and for girls to play with trucks and dinosaur toys.

The book does not touch on topics regarding sexuality.

Want to be heard?

People in York County have many options for making their opinions known.

“It’s really important that your voices are heard, and there are so many ways to have your voices heard in a democracy,” Layne says.

“We can email our representatives, we can make phone calls, and we can show up and attend our local county council meetings.”

The York County Council will meet July 17 at 6pm. The meeting will be at 6 South Congress Street in York.

Gutteridge and other members of CAPE said they will attend the meeting.

“We are a very diverse community. We have people from all over the country and from all over the world. We have many family structures. Let them hear from all of us and not just those with particular ideologies and particular viewpoints,” Gutteridge said.

This story was originally published July 14, 2023 at 11:55 AM.