St. Tammany Parish Libraries Drop PRIDE Month Displays Out of Fear of Harassment
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 8, 2024
St Tammany Parish, Louisiana - This week, Queer Northshore and the St Tammany Library Alliance (STLA) were informed that none of St Tammany’s twelve library branches have put up Pride Month displays out of fear of retribution from anti-LGBTQ+ groups as well as possible blowback from the Parish Council. In 2022, three branches (Mandeville, Madisonville, Slidell) featured Pride displays. A few members of the community took issue with these displays and asked for their removal prompting a crowd of the LGBTQ community and allies to show up in defense of the displays at the June 2022 Library Board of Control meeting. Shortly after, those objecting to the Pride Month displays began the St Tammany Parish Library Accountability Project, the group responsible for working to remove or limit access to over 200 books in our libraries, the majority of which are LGBTQ+ authored or themed.
“We have so little visibility in this community as it is. Last year’s Pride Month displays at the three branches represented some small but meaningful progress. If it's not clear already, there is an extremist movement in our community and in other parts of the country actively trying to erase queer and trans people, this is exactly how they erase us. We cannot allow what visibility we do have to be bullied out of existence,” said Jeremy JF Thompson, cofounder of Queer Northshore and STLA Board Member.
Over the past year, Queer Northshore and STLA members have spoken at dozens of Library Board meetings, sent hundreds of emails to the Parish Council, raised over $15k to run ads and purchase signs and t-shirts saying "Trust Our Librarians," as well as rainbow billboards stating "Support Your Local Library."
Earlier this week, the St Tammany Parish Library Accountability Project, responsible for the 200+ book challenges mentioned above, posted on Facebook: “***PRIDE DISPLAYS WILL NOT RETURN TO LIBRARY*** We know this is because of the pressure that we and those who support our cause to protect children have brought on the parish library and the Parish Council. BUT WE ARE JUST GETTING STARTED!”
Mel Manuel, Queer Northshore cofounder, STLA Spokesperson, and District 1 Congressional Candidate stated “Curating Pride Month displays at public libraries should not be politically polarizing, and the existence of LGBTQ+ people shouldn’t be controversial. It’s the 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills in legislation across the country this year that have worked to politicize the LGBTQ+ community, which represents just 7.2% of the US population.”
St Tammany Parish Library Director Kelly LaRocca was notified that a press release would be issued and has stated that she is available for comment on this matter.
Fo media inquiries, please contact Jeremy JF Thompson at info@queernorthshore.org
About Queer Northshore: Queer Northshore was founded by Mel Manuel and Jeremy JF Thompson in 2022 to help LGBTQ+ people and allies find each other and ensure they are represented in the greater community on the Northshore.. The nonprofit, which now has over 1,300 members, hosts monthly meetup events and has been actively involved in the recent efforts to keep LGBTQ+ books and Pride Displays in St Tammany Public Libraries. To learn more about Queer Northshore, click here.
About St Tammany Library Alliance: The St. Tammany Parish Library Alliance is a grassroots group of people and organizations defending our parish libraries so they may continue to provide a public, neutral space with accessibility to a wide spectrum of materials for all citizens without censorship or interference by political groups, according to our First Amendment Rights. To learn more about St Tammany Library Alliance, click here.