A library director who was fired in 2023 after a dispute over books with sexual content and LGBTQ themes in sections for children and teenagers has settled a lawsuit and will be paid $700,000.
Terri Lesley previously worked as Campbell County’s library system director but was fired when disagreements over the books at the library in Gillette came to a head, the Associated Press (AP) reported Wednesday.
The former library director sued and has now reached a settlement with county officials in the case, claiming, “I will never regret standing up for the First Amendment.”
The article continued:
Public officials there sided with the book objectors and violated Lesley’s First Amendment rights, Lesley claimed in her federal lawsuit against Campbell County, including its commission and library board.
The county denied Lesley’s claims. Only Lesley’s performance — not the dispute over the books — played a role in her dismissal, the county argued in court documents.
Meanwhile, Lesley is suing a local family regarding the book issue and has switched her defamation claim for a “tort of injurious falsehoods” cause of action, Cowboy State Daily reported Wednesday:
The Bennetts were among Lesley’s greatest critics, accusing her of promoting pornography, and asking the local sheriff to investigate her for disseminating obscenity. The library children’s section at that time contained books like “How Do You Make A Baby,” which shows animated human beings in full sex acts with their genitalia exposed. Another book the Bennetts called problematic was “Sex Is A Funny Word,” which depicts a cartoon character, age 8.5, masturbating in a bathtub.
In 2021, the AP reported there was a huge outcry from locals who criticized library officials over the books and for planning to have a transgender musician perform for children. However, the performance was canceled due to threats.
Lesley called the community members trying to protect children “the anti-library crowd” during a 2023 interview with CNN:
A local pastor, Susan Sisti, called the books “absolutely appalling” and Hugh Bennett said the books and their content were “hardcore pornography to children.”
Breitbart News has covered similar issues, such as a 2022 report about a California high school teacher who maintained a “queer library” available to students, and a public library in Oregon that deleted photos of small children lying on top of drag queens and fondling their fake breasts during a Drag Queen Story Hour.
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