Leftist library managers & staff quitting – after new Library Board in Idaho is elected & takes bold action.

Board votes to leave the ALA, is now crafting strong new book collections policy to protect children.

Ousted Library Board members and local leftists attempting to fight back, but can’t stop this train!

March 9, 2024

Branch of the Kootenai County Library system that's losing leftist managers & staff over pro-family improvements by the new Board.

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. The majority of the five Library Board members were hard leftists. The Library Director was a smarmy pro-LGBT social-justice warrior.

The Library 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 Library Director. Among other things, she called her a pervert and a purveyor of smut and pornography to innocent children, and said she was “complicit in the degeneracy and degradation of society.”

During the Library Board meeting this mother (standing at left) yells at the Library Director (seated at right).

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

But the Board then replaced the exiting Library Director with an even more aggressively leftist and pro-LGBT director. This was clearly meant as a reprimand to the parents.

MassResistance continued working with them. We provided them advice and strategy, connected them with people in other states, and helped them work through ideas.

Electing a new conservative Library Board …

So in 2023, following a months-long education campaign across the county by the activists, the two leftist Library Board incumbents were voted out. They were replaced by people who had campaigned 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 take place!

The new Library Board got right to work:

• Within months, the new Library Board followed the lead of other libraries across the country and cut ties with the horrible pro-LGBT American Library Association.
• They are now drafting a very strong collections policy – modeled after the one in Campbell County, WY – that will keep taxpayers from having to pay for any harmful sexual material for children and teenagers.
• They have also started working on policies which allow them to evaluate, document, and discipline the Library Director if she defies the Board or does not comply with the policies.

The Left gets fried over pro-family changes

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 against the new board.

Leftist former Library Board member testifies before new Board complaining about pro-family changes and threatening litigation. [PHOTO: Coeur d'Alene/Post Falls Press]

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 at the Board meetings. This has rattled both the library staff and upset the leftists.

More resignations!

The boldness of the new conservative Library Board and the relentless pressure by the local activists to have a “normal” library is having an effect.

Over the last month, two branch library managers and the library system’s communication specialist have resigned. And we suspect more will follow them. In addition, when the new policies are implemented, most people believe that it’s 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.