1. United States
2. Mich.
3. Letter

I'm asking you to publicly support librarians facing retaliation for refusing to censor books, particularly those with LGBTQ+ themes. Across the country, library boards are bypassing established reconsideration policies to remove or relocate books based on viewpoint discrimination, then punishing librarians who refuse to comply. These librarians are right to refuse. Moving books based on their LGBTQ+ content violates the First Amendment and professional library standards. Libraries don't exist to erase certain people from the collection or push them back into the closet. When boards pressure librarians to remove books without following proper procedures or to compile patron checkout records, they're asking them to violate both constitutional rights and, in many states, privacy laws. Now librarians who stand up for these principles face discipline for so-called "insubordination." That's backwards. They deserve support, not punishment, for protecting constitutional rights and upholding professional standards. I'm asking you to speak out against these censorship efforts and defend librarians who refuse to participate in discrimination. Ban discrimination, not books.