Dear Editor:

I don’t remember a time in my life when I couldn’t read and even as a very young child, the library has always been my safe space.

I loved it so much because it was there that I could learn about the world around me, whether it was history or biography, literature, poetry, fiction – it represented the world of ideas and thoughts and experiences put down on paper for anyone to read. One of the great strengths of our country is our right to free speech. A fundamental tenant of our democracy, it means that we are tolerant of speech that personally, we may not agree with, but we accept as the right of all people.

Now, I am deeply concerned that our public library system has made a decision to suppress free speech and censor the written voices of an entire segment of our population, namely our LGBTQ+ community by taking down the Pride display in the Richmond Hill Public Library because of protests about its content.

Ironically, the reason given to encourage the removal of the display was that it is “politically divisive”. In a democracy, that is called free speech which is exactly what a public library should promote, protect, and uphold. Free speech is not free to just some people, is it?

A public library’s shelves contain many divisive topics. It is no one’s business what books any individual does or does not read. If parents wish to censor their child’s reading material, they are free to do so, but not through a public library. Because right behind them is another parent with another child who see’s books like these and feels heard, feels seen, and feels valued.

There is no reason for a public library to hold an opinion one way or another, it is there to open the door to knowledge. It is up to us to walk in.

This decision has put our public library system on a slippery slope because the next question is – what topic is eliminated next? Books written in Spanish? Books about slavery? Books about people of different colors?

Books about vegetarians?

Books about childless couples? Spiritual books not based on the Bible? I’m sure in our public library stacks there is something to offend everyone.

The Georgia Public Library Service, of which our library system is a part, states as one of the ways it fulfills its mission of improving the lives of Georgians is by “Ensuring equal access to information and technology”. How has removing the Pride display fulfilled this mission?

Instead, this public library system has sent a clear message to our community that unless you conform to someone elses’ opinion of what constitutes a family or a lifestyle, you are not welcome in our public library.

It tells our residents that our public library is now a private library and is no longer a safe space where all are welcome. I am confident this was not the intent, but is the result of this action.

I urge us to keep our public library a public space and if people want to protest, they have that right and I support them. But when I walk through those doors, I want to see the entirety of my community, not just some of it, but all of it. Remember, democracy dies in darkness.

Patti Hewitt, Richmond Hill, Georgia