Citrus County’s resident purveyor of anti-LGBTQ bigotry and paid lobbyist for the Christian Family Coalition, John Labriola, sent out a call to action for the Library Advisory Board (LAB) meeting on Tuesday, April 23.  Mr. Labriola is once rallying his followers to speak out against Pride Displays and to stir up culture war nonsense by talking about Drag Queen Story Hour, which our libraries have never even considered (more below)
Our public libraries should be places where residents can find knowledge that hasn’t been censored and isn’t controlled by an Ultra-MAGA agenda.  We encourage our friends and neighbors to show up in support of our libraries and help work to fight Labriola and his Christian Nationalism agenda.Â
The LAB meets on Tuesday, April 23rd at 8am at the Lecanto Government Building, 3600 W Sovereign Path, Lecanto, FL 34461.
Here’s Mr. Labriola’s call to action for more information:
Hello everyone.
We are planning a trip to the Library Advisory Board (LAB) meeting this coming Tuesday, April 23 at 8 a.m. The LAB meets at the Lecanto Government Building, 3600 W Sovereign Path, Lecanto, FL 34461.
Now that we have a new conservative majority on the LAB, we want to take advantage of that fact to push for Conservative Change.
Two years ago, Eric Head prepared the attached Library Policies that were reviewed by the LAB and approved by the County Commission on a 3-2 vote. This was before Citrus County voted to cut ties with the American Library Association last year. Several residents turned out to that meeting two years ago to request the following changes to the plan:
On Policy 12, under Collection Development, strike Paragraph 2 including the five bullets which adopt "supporting documents" from the American Library Association
On Policy 14, under Selection of Displays, add a new paragraph: "Displays shall not violate community standards, and there shall be no displays of sexual orientation or 'gender identity.'"
Because these changes WERE NOT made, the plan barely passed the commission. Here are the problems:
First, if you go to Policy 12 in the attached document and click the first bullet (Libraries: An American Value), or virtually any of the other bullets, it takes you to the ALA's website, and then you're only a few clicks away from guidelines on how to host a Drag Queen Story Hour in your public library. First click "Equity, Diversity and Inclusion" in the left portal. Then under that click "Libraries Respond." The fourth bullet on the page is "Drag Queen Story Hour," which takes you to a page full of dozens of resource links full of tips on how to conduct a drag queen story hour for little children in the library to encourage them to explore their "gender fluidity" using "unabashedly queer role models." See the link: Libraries Respond: Drag Queen Story Hour | Advocacy, Legislation & Issues (ala.org)
Second, the Policy 14 change to stop LGBT Pride displays failed on a 3-2 vote. All three of the commissioners who are running for reelection this year, Holly Davis, Ruthie Schlabach and Jeff Kinnard, voted NO. Now is the time to hold their feet to the fire!
Please come to the meeting this Tuesday morning to ask for these two changes.