Surprised nobody jumped on this one. A proper library should be politically, religiously, and ideologically neutral. It infuriated me when I wanted to read Richard Wagner's bile-laden, Anti-Semitic treatise,
Das Judenthum in der Musik and I had to resort to the "Dark Web" to get a copy. Major Props to the Blue Hill Library's Board and Staff for doing the right thing. All the stuck up hypocrites who are complaining and resorting to sending hate mail to Mr. Boulet should be ashamed of doing to him what they probably scream about when the shoe is on the other foot...
Oh and BTW, since The Generalissimo & Site Owner specified no politics here, that is a standing rule so don't start up with "Where's our Free Speech?". Just the price of being a member...
āMy Heart Sankā: In Maine, a Challenge to a Book, and to a Townās Self-Image
Wealthy, liberal-leaning Blue Hill prided itself on staying above the fray ā until the library stocked a book that drew anger from the left.
Rich Boulet, the director of the Blue Hill Public Library, was working in his office when a regular patron stopped by to ask how to donate a book to the library. āYou just hand it over,ā Mr. Boulet said.
The book was āIrreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters,ā by the journalist Abigail Shrier. The book posits that gender dysphoria is a ādiagnostic crazeā fueled by adolescent confusion, social media and peer influence, and that teenagers are too young to undergo potentially irreversible gender transition surgery.
Many transgender people
and their advocates say the book is harmful to trans youth, and some have tried to suppress its distribution.
āIf Iām being totally honest, my heart sank when I saw it,ā Mr. Boulet recalled.
Founded in 1796, the library has a $7.9 million endowment in a coastal enclave popular among affluent summer residents. Blue Hill delivered a 35-point victory for Joseph R. Biden Jr. in the 2020 presidential race. The communities around it are a blend of liberal, conservative and none-of-your-business, all of which helped its library resist political proxy battles like those roiling the nationās libraries.
But in mid-2021, the Blue Hill library and its leadership were tested in a way none of them anticipated.
āIrreversible Damageā did not reflect Mr. Bouletās personal views, nor those of his staff. But because āI want the library to be there for everybody, not just people who share my voting record,ā Mr. Boulet said he gave the book the same consideration he would any other, and concluded it should be on the shelves.
āI felt like it filled a hole in our collection of a lot of materials on that subject matter,ā he said. His staff supported the decision.
Less than a week after the book went on display, the parent of a transgender adult told Mr. Boulet that she found it harmful.
āShe and I have known each other for years, and we talked about it calmly,ā he recalled. The patron filled out a reconsideration request, asking that the book be kept āunder the desk,ā available only by request.
The libraryās collections committee voted unanimously to keep the book in circulation. āBut I knew it wasnāt over,ā Mr. Boulet said.
Residents who objected to the book confronted him, library staffers and board members in the grocery store, post office and the library itself.
āThey would say āI canāt believe that the library is allowing this,āā said John Diamond, the library board president. āMy feeling was, āI canāt believe the library would
not allow it, based on its position on free access to information.āā
The harshest criticism was reserved for Mr. Boulet. One patron told him that if a trans youth checked out the book and died by suicide, āthatās on you,ā Mr. Boulet recalled. Critical Facebook posts and negative Google reviews poured in.
Mr. Boulet defended the decision on the libraryās Facebook page, which only fanned the discord. Painfully, Mr. Boulet knew many of the negative commenters.
Mr. Boulet appealed to the American Library Association for a public letter of support, which it offers to libraries undergoing censorship efforts. āThey ghosted me,ā he said.
Asked about the letter, Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the A.L.A.ās Office for Intellectual Freedom, said Mr. Bouletās request had generated internal debate, and delay.
āOur position on the book is, it should remain in the collection; it is beneath us to adopt the tools of the censors,ā she said in an interview. āWe need to support intellectual freedom in all its aspects, in order to claim that high ground.ā Months after Mr. Boulet requested the letter, Ms. Caldwell-Stone saw him at a conference and apologized.
Mr. Boulet wrote an open letter in the local newspaper stressing that the library welcomes everyone, ānot just your or my slice of the community.ā
āThe presence of an item in the library is not an endorsement of the ideas contained therein,ā he added.
A friend of Mr. Bouletās, a high school teacher, posted a response on social media, and sent it to the library board.
āThe āAll Lives Matterā stance the Blue Hill library is taking is biased, harmful and manipulative hate speech,ā it read. Irate, Mr. Boulet confronted the teacher in person, and the two are no longer friends.
And then by the end of 2021, the furor quieted, and the book remained.
Before the controversy, āI hadnāt really given intellectual freedom as much thought as I should have,ā Mr. Boulet said. His conclusion, he said, is that āintellectual freedom or the freedom of speech isnāt there just to protect ideas that we like.ā