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A Michigan library is facing extinction after one book on its shelves sparked outrage among the local community.
Residents of Jamestown voted last year to defund the Patmos Library following a push by some residents to remove the book "Gender Queer" by Maia Kobabe. The book —which has been banned in more states than any other book in America— takes readers through Kobabe's journey to figuring out their own gender identity. Many took issue with a passage about consent that contains a page about sex toys.
“The library is a disaster because of one book,” Chavala Ymker, who considers the library a safe haven, told the Huffington Post.
The Patmos Library has relied on the public funding of a tax called millage. Some claimed the library having books with LGBTQ themes meant that tax money was going to be used to “groom” children. A millage renewal to keep the library open was on a primary ballot in August 2021. It was voted down by 25 percentage points. The library board put the question on the ballot in November, but not enough people voted “yes” to keep funding Patmos Library.
As it stands now, the library will stop receiving funding in the fall of 2024. “It’s going to be hard to lose this resource,” Salan Sousley, a Jamestown resident and co-founder of Inclusive Ottawa County, said. “Kids from the local schools host their clubs there, that’s where people donate blood, and that’s where people vote. People were voting to defund the library at the library.”