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Virginia library at risk after rightwing push to defund it over LGBTQ+ books
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2023
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This is the best summary I could come up with:
A public county library in Virginia is at risk of shutting down after a group of far-right community members launched a campaign to defund it on accusations it held “pornographic books” though in fact the works usually just explore LGBTQ+ themes.
America has been hit by a wave of rightwing protests at libraries and schools that usually target books and material that have LGBTQ+ characters, plots or stories.
Save Samuels, an activist group committed to making sure the library remains open, organized in the wake of the controversy.
Complaints from the far-right group about the books were obtained through freedom of information requests and released by Save Samuels.
Because of an activist minority and a campaign of intimidation, an entire county may soon lose out on access to literature and information,” Meehan said.
“Public libraries are a critical part of our democracy; to see one threatened by baseless claims and conspiracy theories is deeply alarming.
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