Yes, local activists can make a difference!

Back in July 2022, the Kootenai County, Idaho Library Board made news when our local activists finally had enough of the obscenity and pornography on the children’s shelves. Most of the five board members were hard leftists, and the director was a pro-LGBT social-justice warrior.

The director had just finished defending a library book about 15-year-old girls who were molested by their fathers and became prostitutes. She said that parents’ complaints were “out of context” – a talking point frequently used by pornographers and LGBT activists.

One of the mothers stood up and lit into the director, calling her (among other things), a pervert and a purveyor of smut and pornography to innocent children. She also said she was “complicit in the degeneracy and degradation of society.”

Walking Out in a Huff

At the next meeting, the library director announced her resignation. The following month, the board approved a new collection policy that banned some “obscene” children’s books while continuing to approve those promoting homosexual and transgender-themed sexual behaviors.

But the board then replaced the exiting director with an even more aggressively leftist and pro-LGBT individual. 

MassResistance continued working with parents, providing advice and strategy, connecting them with people in other states, and helping them work through ideas.

Electing a Better Library Board

So in 2023, following a months-long education campaign across the county by the activists, the two leftist board incumbents were voted out. They were replaced by people who had campaigned specifically on dealing with the explicit materials.

Conservatives now had the majority, and the new Library Board chairman was outspoken about removing all the obscenity that taxpayers were paying for. And changes have taken place!

Cleaning Out the Filth

The new board got right to work.

• Within months, it had followed the lead of other libraries across the country and cut ties with the horribly pro-LGBT American Library Association.
• It is now drafting a very strong collections policy – modeled after the one in Campbell County, Wyoming – that will keep taxpayers from having to pay for any harmful sexual material for children and teenagers.
• It also has started working on policies which allow members to evaluate, document, and discipline the library director if she defies the board or does not comply with its policies.

Not surprisingly, these changes have faced considerable pushback from local leftists. The local newspaper has repeatedly attacked the new library board majority as “far right.” Both of the former leftist board members who lost the 2023 election have continued attending board meetings, along with other local leftists, to complain. One has even threatened litigation.

But the new library board’s conservative members have stood tall, and local activists also attend every meeting to vocally support them.

The local grassroots group has continued to review what the library director and staff are bringing into the library to promote to minors, and report on it at the board meetings. This has rattled both the library staff and upset the leftists.

More Resignations!

The boldness of the new conservative  board and the relentless pressure from  local activists to regain a “normal” library is having an effect.

Over the last month, two branch library managers and the library system’s communication specialist have resigned. We suspect more will follow. In addition, when the new policies are implemented, most people believe it’ll be only a matter of time before the leftist pro-LGBT library director will be on her way out!

The road to having a “normal” library now is clear!

Final Thoughts

Just a few years ago, all of this would have seemed impossible in the Kootenai County library system. The leftists outnumbered conservatives on the board 4-1. They were entrenched, arrogant, condescending, and unwavering. But focused activism can accomplish great things!

And it’s just as important not to allow the attacks from the left (whether in person, online, or through the local media) to affect your resolve. These people are paper tigers. If you stand up to them they become surprisingly weak.

Originally published at massresistance.org. Reprinted with permission.