Texas News

LGBT Books For Kids Will Stay On Hood County Library Shelves, Commissioners Say

KERA | By Stella M. Chávez

Published July 14, 2015 at 9:49 AM CDT

Dozens have packed a room where Hood County commissioners are meeting this morning.

Hood County Commissioners said today that two LGBT-themed library books for kids will stay on the shelves.

Dozens of residents concerned about the books spoke before the commissioners in Granbury. Some want to remove the books from the shelves of the public library. Others want LGBT books for kids moved to another part of the library.

Last month, the county's library advisory board voted to keep the books with one minor change. County attorney Lori Kaspar said the library director moved one of the books, “This Day in June,” from the kids section to the parenting shelves. The other book, "My Princess Boy," remains in the children's section.

Commissioners said at today's meeting that residents can sign up to join the library advisory board.

More than 40 people spoke at the meeting. Melanie Graft said she and her three children visit the library three to five times a week.

"Like everyone here, I'm simply asking that books be placed in an appropriate place in the library so that anyone still has access to them, but we respect parents like me who want to decide what their children read," Graft said.

Last week, the American Library Association sent a letter to the county urging that the books stay on the library shelves. The National Coalition Against Censorship also sent a letter to Hood County Commissioners. It "praises the library for not buckling to pressure to remove" the two books, a press release says. "The letter is co-signed by the American Booksellers for Free Expression, Association of American Publishers, Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, National Council of Teachers of English, Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators and the PEN American Center's Children's and Young Adult Books Committee."