Pride Is Disappearing in Libraries Across the U.S.: Book Censorship News: July 11, 2025

A library clerk in Crawford County, Missouri, was also fired for a book display this Pride month. Rachel Rodman put together a display of LGBTQ+ books, which is something she’d done for other cultural and heritage celebrations throughout her year in the Bourbon Branch library. A mere six days after the display went up–the display was located near another display about rising censorship in America’s libraries–she was fired for it. 

Where Rodman should have been praised for sticking to her beliefs in creating the display and not succumbing to pressure to remove it, instead, she was fired for “insubordination.”  

Drag Required Police Presence

Drag Story Hour is a fun, pro-literacy event held at public libraries (and other family-friendly venues) nationwide. While it has seen plenty of controversy in recent years, conveniently timed with the rise of censorship and attacks on public institutions like libraries, it remains a fun event meant to captivate audiences with fun, humor, and a love of literature. One of its goals is to help encourage self-expression and self-confidence from the youngest to the oldest attendees.

This year was no different when it came to complaints, though unlike recent years, there were far fewer complaints and far fewer instances of stochastic terrorism toward these events. That’s not because antagonists have given up. It’s because there were far fewer Drag Story Hour and similar events offered at public libraries across the country. 

Where there were such events, they were not without increased security and pressure from far right instigators. Where no one is forced to attend a public library event, these groups and individuals have continued to take it upon themselves to be the cultural police for an entire community. And it wasn’t necessarily in the states nor communities where such events have previously drawn ire. It happened in places which have been targeted less, which is a reminder of where and how the energy and efforts of complainers has had to shift. They have to go further and further out to challenge events because there are simply fewer events.

Chicago Public Library saw not one, but two, attempts to choke out their drag queen story hour programs. One happened in the Edgewater neighborhood, where police had to monitor the situation; one arrest was made after a protester pushed an individual in support of the event. The event in the Beverly neighborhood also saw protesters. 

An hour and a half southwest of Chicago’s city limits sits La Salle, Illinois. That library saw a surge in complaints when they shared they would be hosting a family friendly drag story hour. The event required three police officers to monitor from outside the library–and it also drew a crowd of champions of the event who showed up not only in support of the program but who helped attendees arrive safely and in love. This story gave the local right-wing funded newspapers–endemic throughout Illinois beyond this 2022 story–plenty to crow about.  

In California, two separate drag story events were shrouded in complaints and fears of protests. For Rohnert Park-Cotati Regional Library, north of San Francisco, the worries were allayed when no protestors showed up to the event. Rumors had been circulating online about what could happen, and the library prepared itself by bringing in extra staff and seeking supporters to help guide attendees inside the building safely.  

The Monterey Public Library and Monterey Peninsula Pride cohosted a drag storytime in a local park, which quickly saw complaints rise from the Monterey County Republican Party. Though their opposition was loud and parroted the same tired, misinformed talking points shared by the right elsewhere, the event itself sold out and saw a joyful crowd. Something of note in this story is what the Monterey Public Library’s director said when asked about the controversy and complaints: “”Our LGBTQ community are taxpayers as well, and all community members deserve to have their taxpayer funds represented in programs that reflect them here in our community.”

Another California library in St. Helena, saw their Drag story event complained about in the local newspaper, but as far as can be seen, the event happened as planned. The complaints in the paper followed the same boring and unoriginal formula as always, including that such events go against traditional family values. Recall that no one forces any person to attend these events and that “traditional family values” is but a dog whistle. 

Other complaints about drag story events happened in Brooklyn Public Library, where one library worker reported that “the State Assembly Member who gave us programming funding wanted us to remove his funding credit from the flyer due to constituent complaints.” In Lafayette Public Library (CO), one patron claimed she single-handedly canceled the library’s Drag Queen Story Time. She did not–but she certainly was able to spread plenty of misinformation. 

Pride Programming Outside Drag Story Hours

LGBTQ+ positive programming isn’t limited to Drag Story Hours, of course, and plenty of complaints spread nationwide related to Pride programs in libraries this year. Complaints put enough pressure on some institutions to cancel their events all together, allowing the small, loud voices to overshadow necessary, inclusive programs to the whole of a community.

Tangi Library in Louisiana saw their author event with popular queer romance author Casey McQuiston canceled. The cancellation, which was overturned following pushback for the decision, came due to “subject matter.” Such on again, off again events create confusion for patrons, especially as it was clear these complaints were likely not even coming from the community itself but from elsewhere across the country. 

Augusta County Library in Fishersville, Virginia, canceled its Pride events following pushback from library and county officials. This story is a fascinating and confusing one, as events were initially nixed but the far-right members of the library board–who complained about being characterized in the local news as MAGA, despite being MAGA–were mum about what actually happened. A day long event was planned by the library, to include a photo booth, cookie making, and a movie that would play after hours. Just four days in advance of the event, the library shared that it was being canceled, thanks to a demand from the county board of supervisors. A county board member claimed it was about the movie being shown, the title of which that individual could not even remember. When the library director offered to cancel the movie, he could get no response from the county board who’d told him the entire thing was done. Who knows if this is the truth though: one of the earlier stories on the incident notes that a retired police officer said that there was a “possibility” of something going bad and thus, it should be canceled. Whatever the reasons behind the cancellation, the fact is it was canceled. 

In New Hampshire, the Rye Public Library made plans to host an “Allyship 101” event in the days leading up to Pride month. But following complaints from the local Republican Town Committee, the library board elected to “postpone” the event. Of note is that this event wasn’t being put on by the library itself, but rather, it was being supported by the library and was being run by a local nonprofit whose work is to serve LGBTQ+ youth. This is an important note, as the library board then decided in a cowardly move that the event could go on, the library would offer a room for it, but there would be no endorsement from the library itself. As of writing, no new date has been announced either by the Rye Public Library nor the nonprofit running it. 

Hussey-Mayfield Memorial Public Library in Zionsville, Indiana, saw complaints begin to pop up about their programming. Among the complaints was the inappropriate nature of their “Pride Speed Dating with a Book,” intended for adults. The event intended to introduce readers to LGBTQ+ books available in the library–but the facts don’t matter. The complaints were loud, misinformed, and intended to spread further bigotry. It also wasn’t the library’s first experience with this crowd, who spewed similar lies and hatred during Pride last year (note that the link will take you to a right-wing “news” outlet). 

A branch of the Monmouth County Public Library in New Jersey saw one of their Pride events canceled. The Pride Pin event, which would allow teens to create pins related to Pride, was promoted on social media and quickly saw nasty comments pile on. This got the attention of the county, leading to the event’s cancellation. The same county saw book recommendations made for Pride receive online scrutiny, leading to the posts to be pulled down as well. 

Although the event was able to proceed, a New York City elementary school librarian reported being told that they’re being required to change the name of a long-running program they’ve held that brings LGBTQ+ books into the school, with an author visit supported by Lambda Literary. What was once LGBTQ+ Writers in Schools received some pushback this year on account of rumors about the content of the age-appropriate books now faces the reality of a name change. The librarian will need to call future iterations of the program an “author visit,” putting them in the position of not only erasing the power that such identity holds for the author and attendees but then also being put in a position to handle the blowback from it. This is yet another example of where and how Pride is being blatantly erased. 

Ire Over and Erasure of Book Displays, Pride Flags

That erasure of Pride was perhaps most noticeably seen and felt inside libraries across the US, where both internal and external pressure led to erasure and/or removal of LGBTQ+ book displays and flags. As noted above, at least two library workers were fired for making space in library displays for queer books this season, but countless others were either told from the start they could not create such displays, were informed that the displays needed to be removed and they complied, or–perhaps most commonly, if least documented–library workers simply complied in advance and chose quiet/silent censorship in not creating such displays at all. 

Display complaints weren’t limited to public libraries, either. At least two instances of Pride book display erasure and/or removal occurred in academic libraries, where nearly every user is a legal adult. Northwest Nazarene University, a private college in Idaho, was targeted on social media by State Senator Brian Lenney for having such a display. The institution caved to the pressure and removed it. 

Two different individuals reported that South Texas College in McAllen, Texas, barred any Pride displays in the library. One noted that the decision came last year out of fear that state laws about LGBTQ+ material, deemed “inappropriate” and “sexually explicit” by legislators on the right, applied to them. “[The Associate Dean] is also now over-complying to the point where we are not even allowed to mention Pride Month in the staff newsletter which is an internal-only newsletter,” wrote one, while another noted, “Pride events tend to not get a lot of pushback here. This seems to be over compliance at the cost of academic freedom on behalf of admin.”

Reports on book display censorship from Ohio were the most common in response to a call for stories about Pride attacks in libraries this year. This isn’t a surprise, given the provision in the state’s budget bill that would have banned such titles from being in the sightlines of minors in public libraries. Despite not being a surprise, it is still censorship, and it was perpetrated by those who know better. One library worker from the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library shared that they were asked by their administration “not to have Pride displays in kids or teen areas, because we’re facing budget cuts and they don’t want to divide or “distract” our supporters.” It was okay to have a Pride display, but it could not be in or near areas where young people may be. “This feels like complying in advance/sacrificing queer youth for money,” they wrote, adding that “the slope feels slippery.”  

The same directives landed in suburban Columbus. “My library director told the Youth department not to do Pride displays this year. (I’ve worked there for six years and we’ve always had these displays.) When our department pushed back a little, the director said we can’t do ANY displays related to “heritage,” which apparently means Juneteenth, Women’s History, etc.” They added that other libraries in the area were not only continuing to do their Pride displays as usual, but that those libraries were pairing it with action. “They are encouraging their patrons to call representatives to fight this legislation. It’s upsetting and confusing to the staff why our director is buckling under so quickly.”  

In Villa Park, Illinois, a suburban Chicago library, 23 people signed a petition complaining about book displays. Only eight of the signers who delivered the petition to the board were village residents. “Language was essentially the same as in the “Hide the Pride” template, dropping out a paragraph stating that the signers would be checking out books from the displays and holding them until the displays were removed — perhaps because there were only days until the displays would be rotated out for July displays,” wrote one library worker. 

Tonasket Public Library in Washington became a target at the city council meeting over their display of a Pride flag, while a pastor stoked outrage over a Pride book display at the Waupun Public Library in Wisconsin. So much for love thy neighbor. North Kawartha Public Library (Aspley, Ontario) saw rainbow colored posts outside the facility vandalized as well. 

Already, the groundwork is being laid to see even further erasure of LGBTQ+ people and Pride in libraries. Fresno, California, for example, is weighing measures that would dictate what library workers can or cannot do on the clock related to such cultural celebrations. The county supervisor leading the charge is Garry Bredefeld, who wants to ban Fresno County Libraries from creating book displays and posters in support of LGBTQ+ community members and their stories. “It’s my hope that this board will not have it (Pride) on the list, and that these libraries cannot be a place where we’re promoting an agenda, because I think it is an agenda. It’s a political agenda,” he said during a June board meeting. California has multiple anti-book ban bills, which have created barriers for Fresno County Supervisors’ prior and ongoing agenda to ban such materials from the library. 

What Happened to “Hide the Pride?” 

One of the most notorious anti-Pride campaigns in libraries was Catholic Vote’s “Hide the Pride.” It began in 2022, with repeat efforts in 2023 and 2024. “Hide the Pride” encouraged visiting local public libraries, seeking out LGBTQ+ book displays and titles, and borrowing them with no intent to return them to the library. Catholic Vote would celebrate the efforts of those partaking, sharing photos and numbers about how successful the campaign was. The group launched a fundraising campaign for “Hide the Pride” June of last year, asking for support of the initiative and noting that for every $5 donated, two books could be removed. It is unclear how much money, if any, was raised. 

Zero stories in the media this year referenced “Hide the Pride” in libraries, nor did any libraries report being targeted by the efforts. Did it happen at all this year? The answer appears to be no, and not because the group decided to stop efforts to promote their own agenda.

Indeed, this year it looks like Catholic Vote encouraged what should be the response to events that an organization doesn’t like: promotion of alternate celebrations for those who may wish to partake with no reference to other ongoing celebrations. Throughout the country, billboards promoting “Sacred Heart of Jesus Month” popped up, and the group eagerly shared the celebration. It will come as little surprise how much energy was still dedicated by followers to making crude and wild statements related to Pride. 

Is it likely “Hide the Pride” still happened but under the radar? That the event was no longer outwardly promoted so that it could happen more quietly? Yes. But given how quiet Pride has been in libraries, the chances of knowing the scope here is lower than in the previous three years. 

Considerations for the Future of Pride–Besides Now Cowering 

Two really powerful pro-Pride, pro-LGBTQ+ stories popped up over the course of June that are worth including to round out this look at how Pride has been disappearing from libraries. The first comes from Airdrie Public Library in Alberta, Canada, explaining where and how the library develops its book displays. They create more than 100 a year and yet, there is only one display that seems to correlate with an increase in material theft: the Pride display. 

“June is Pride Month, and as an inclusive public space that fosters literacy, knowledge, and cultural connections, APL celebrates this segment of the Airdrie community as much as any other.

However, unlike our other collections, our LGBTQ literature is often vandalized, materials hidden behind shelves or in other areas, including in the children’s area, and checked out in large numbers as a way to limit access.”

It’s a straightforward story with a potent message. Only one group of people seems to attract ire within the community, and the library notices because they highlight the voices and stories of thousands of various people annually in their displays. 

Put this piece in your back pocket in preparation for next June. Replicate it in your own community paper and/or on your library’s own social media. It shouldn’t feel too risky, but if speaking from your personal library’s perspective is, then share this story. 

The second piece comes from Scott Gordon in Tone Madison. Gordon talks about how the Wisconsin Historical Society elected this year to not put up a Pride flag for the first time since 2009: 

“Any variation on “let’s not make this political” really adds up to: “I would like to limit the scope of which things in our society are politically contested, and I would like to limit the number and kinds of people who get to contest them.” This requires included and excluded constituencies. A public institution places itself, untenably, in both camps, when it tries to selectively de-politicize itself on one front and ignores its political entanglements on others.”

Every library worker, administrator, board member, and user should take each and every word in here to heart. There is no neutrality in libraries. Neutrality is bullshit and neutrality is precisely why LGBTQ+ people and Pride have become such targets in public libraries. Libraries are political spaces. They have to be. Libraries are political spaces because they serve people, and being a person is political. They’re funded by taxpayers, and taxpayers include every political persuasion. If libraries do not stand up for themselves and advocate their value to all, then they’ll continue to be beaten down, destabilized, and defunded by political parties whose clout grows with each library attack. 

Choosing to ignore Pride or choosing to bow down to the loudest voices in the room is cowardice. Not only is it cowardice, it’s a blaring indication to queer people–those in your communities and those who work in libraries themselves–that they are not safe to utilize the public space that is paid for and supported by their tax dollars. Throwing Pride and LGBTQ+ under the bus further disenfranchises a group seeing cruelty from the top down legislatively, but more, it gives them no incentive to step up and help libraries in the midst of their own ongoing social, cultural, and political crisis. 

If libraries want to survive and if libraries are to serve their mission, erasing Pride isn’t the way. 

“Academic and educational institutions have a duty to push beyond the “sheesh, politics amirite” default of American discourse,” writes Gordon. “We look to these institutions to give us knowledge and concepts that allow us to form our own complex and vital analyses of the world, rather than rely on the cheap ready-made narratives that politicians would have us settle for. They should support and encourage us in navigating a world that’s always going to be entangled in the political, rather than help us fool ourselves into thinking we can ever truly escape the political.”

Book Censorship News: July 11, 2025

• In Florida, they’re doing important work like banning the words “Gulf of Mexico” from school books and state laws.
• Book challenges in Kentucky rose 1000% in 2024. Yes, one thousand percent.
• Columbia County Libraries (GA) are considering withdrawing from their regional library system–choking access to more materials for their users–and creating their own book banning committee “tailored to the specific requirements of Columbia County.” In other words, they’re going to ban everything they want and then not allow users to get the materials in other system libraries. This is paternalistic bullshit. Oh, they dissolved their board, too.
• The former Crawford County, Arkansas, library director is suing for defamation over dealing with folks trying to ban LGBTQ+ books.
• Here’s a good news update: Ohio’s governor has vetoed the portion of the budget bill that would require libraries put LGBTQ+ out of eyesight of those under 18.
• Anti-book ban advocates in New Hampshire showed up at the governor’s office demanding she veto the book ban legislation proposed by state legislators when it hits her desk.
• Texas State Representative Daniel Alders is proposing another anti-book ban bill for a potential special session of the state legislation. These folks can’t stop thinking about children’s genitals or sexuality in weird, NOT NORMAL ways.
• How psychologists are pushing back against book censorship.
• Where and how the book bans in Alberta, Canada, are an act of cultural vandalism–there is a heck of a phrase worth incorporating in this battle over books.
• Some potential good news in prison censorship: Wisconsin’s Department of Corrections is working with Wisconsin Books to Prisoners to make used book donations possible again.
• Parents in Duval County Schools (FL) are pushing back against the district’s DEI policies that will only serve to ban more books and ideas.
• This news story links to RatedBooks, an unprofessional ratings site created by book banning bigots, as if it’s an authoritative resource on books in libraries. The link is there because the story is about new guidelines to ban books from kids in public schools and libraries in the state.
• Several states are backing Iowa in its law that bans LGBTQ+ books–sorry, books with “sex acts”–from public schools in an amicus brief to the Eight Circuit.
• A look at the debate over school history textbooks in Mesa County Valley District 51 (Colorado). You know why the board rejected the choice of the teachers without even clicking.
• Prepare to see a wave of book bans and restrictions hitting Fremont County Library System (WY) soon.
• In some good news out of North Carolina, the democratic governor has vetoed a number of anti-DEI bills put forth by legislators. This would have impacted school curriculum and, of course, helped aid book banning.
• Legislators in the UK are thrilled that one of their own bigots removed trans books from the children’s areas Kent Library. Indeed, plenty of people are unhappy about this.
• In the Ken-Ton School District (NY), board members are considering an update to their collection policies which would limit the kinds of book challenges they’ll take. This is happening because one Moms for Liberty stan challenged 27 books in May–if the district determines that librarians have selected books professionally, the challenges won’t hold water.
• Rhode Island officially has a freedom to read/anti-book ban law.
• Redlands Unified School District (CA) is one step closer to passing a policy against “obscene material” in the district, as well as limiting flags that can be flown. This should get into the hands of the state, given that they have an anti-book ban bill policy and this board hasn’t fought for this kind of policy so long because they really think there is porn in the school library. Anti-book ban bills are only as good as their enforcement.
• Signs proclaiming that “everyone is welcome here” are no longer welcome in Idaho.
• In Johnston County Schools (NC), Pride flags are now banned and the board is debating removing any anti-discrimination language in their policies.
• Beaufort County School District (SC), which has dealt with book bans for years, had 15 new challenges arise this month. Here’s where this gets especially bad: if the board passes on those challenges, they’ll be heard by the South Carolina Department of Education, where those titles could then be banned in public schools statewide. Recall SC leads the nation in state-sanctioned book bans.
• Podpisnye Izdaniya in St. Peterburg, Russia, has been charged once again with promoting “LGBT Propaganda.” This kind of targeted attack on literature and on queer people is the dream of the American right.
• Sumner County Libraries (TN) are one step closer to putting the library board in charge of selecting what materials can be on library shelves. You read that right.