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Former President Donald Trump helped deliver the Republican nomination for governor to Attorney General Daniel Cameron, but its unclear if the Trump effect will help in his efforts to unseat incumbent Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear.

Cameron, whose campaign has been built on his record as attorney general and his conservative values, defeated 11 opponents in the primary. Now, he will face one of the most popular governors in America, according to a Morning Consult poll.

The two have a history of disagreeing. On the campaign trail, Cameron often notes that he sued Beshear to reopen churches during the coronavirus pandemic. More recently, Cameron has proposed putting a Kentucky State Police post in Louisville as a way to control violent crime, but Beshear said that idea shows a lack of confidence in the Louisville Metro Police Department.

Trumps endorsement of Cameron was announced early in the race, June 2022. The former president also voiced support for the attorney general in a brief tele-rally the Sunday before the primary election.

Cameron thanked Trump for his endorsement after the race was called Tuesday.

Let me just say, the Trump culture of winning is alive and well in Kentucky, Cameron told the crowd gathered at his watch party in Louisville. Trump won the state in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.

On Wednesday, Trump called Cameron a star and gloated on Truth Social that another candidate backed by his potential 2024 GOP presidential opponent, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, came in a DISTANT third. Though he didnt say her name, Trump was referring to Kelly Craft, whom he appointed to ambassadorships to Canada and the United Nations.

Stephen Voss, a political science professor at the University of Kentucky, said Trumps endorsements can help in Republican primaries but hurt candidates in general elections when it comes to swing voters. In the Kentucky Republican primary, Trump supporters could have been divided between three candidates Trump-backed Cameron; Craft, who emulated Trumps cultural policies; and Eric Deters, a suspended attorney from Northern Kentucky who captured Trumps style on the campaign trail and on social media.

The one thing Trumps endorsement may have done is not a positive but a negative in the sense that Cameron previously had been seen as a McConnell protege and Craft wanted to tie Cameron to the McConnell wing of the party, which is unpopular with right wingers, Voss said. But Cameron having the Trump endorsement was like armor against attacks related to McConnell.

Scott Jennings, a conservative commentator who has worked in Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnells past campaigns, said Republican presidential hopefuls could show up to support the GOP gubernatorial nominee.

Trump would be the biggest, and I think on balance I think hes a net positive for if youre trying to juice Republican turnout, Jennings said. One of the things about governors races is turnout is low. Primary turnout was low. General election turnout is low. And so, you think about trying to pull out voters who wouldnt normally pay attention to a governors race, yeah, Trump has the capacity to help you do that.

The general election will be the first serious exploration of what Beshear has accomplished in Frankfort and his policies, Jennings said. He characterized Beshear as a nonpartisan technocrat who shows up to hand out hugs and water when something bad happens.

Heading into the fall, Kentucky Republicans will likely press the governor on culture issues, Jennings said, adding Beshear is outside of the mainstream where most Kentucky voters are. Cameron is also likely to excite voters, including some independents, he said.

Daniel Cameron is at worst a generic Republican, which is a good thing to be in Kentucky, Jennings said, and at best and I think probably more tilting towards best he is something more than that. He is a young transformational sort of candidate to our partys future.

Beshear does have an advantage in being the incumbent, Jennings said. But he noted, incumbents do lose, pointing to former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin in 2019 and Democratic Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak in 2022.

Jonathan Miller, a former Democratic state treasurer, said facing Cameron will likely be a heated race for Beshear, but remained optimistic that the governor will get a second term.

I think its going to be very close and there are going to be tens of millions of dollars put into the race for both sides. Its probably going to get quite negative, Miller said. And ultimately, I think because of the relationship that the governor has established with the people of Kentucky, its going to overcome the fact that we are mostly a red state.

Voters in Louisville will likely be energized to vote against Cameron because of his work in the Breonna Taylor case, Miller said. In 2020, LMPD officers killed the unarmed Black woman in her apartment.

Critics of Cameron, who was the special prosecutor for the case, have questioned why his office did not bring murder charges against any officers when later the Department of Justice announced federal charges against four police officers.

Beshear has faced some criticism of his own, especially from Republican candidates in the primary election, particularly on his coronavirus response and the veto of Senate Bill 150, an omnibus anti-trans bill, earlier this year.

Voss said that the Republican nominees criticisms of Beshear will likely be the same as presented in the primary election.

In a press call last week, Kentucky Democratic Party Chairman Colmon Elridge said of the criticism of the governors COVID-19 response, bless them if thats the road they want to go down.

Gov. Beshear has a clear record of showing up when Kentuckians needed him the most, Elridge said. So, insofar as COVID is concerned, the governor across the board, regardless of party affiliation, continues to get high marks because he set a standard for care, for compassion and for making decisive decisions that kept people alive.

As for the veto of the anti-transgender bill, Eldridge echoed Beshears comments of treating others with dignity and respect.

He has made it a priority for our party to echo those values in how we do our work, how we build our party to see the humanity in everyone and to treat everyone with dignity and respect and, as the governor says, as a child of God, and so we will continue to echo those values through Election Day and beyond.

Miller said Beshear established a connection with Kentuckians for his responses during the pandemic and natural disasters, so much so that it might sway even conservative voters who normally vote Republican.

In Kentucky, we really have a personal relationship with our governor, Miller said. Its different from every other elected office.

The race will likely heat up soon with ads on both sides trying to bring down the others approval, Miller added.

While on opposing sides of the political spectrum, Cameron and Beshear do have some career commonalities. Cameron is in his first term as attorney general as he leads his gubernatorial campaign. Beshear also served one term as attorney general before facing Bevin in 2019.

Their law careers also overlapped. Their offices were on the same hallway in Stites & Harbison, a Louisville law firm.

Jennings said the attorney general offers Kentucky Republicans something they didnt have in the 2019 election a unifying top of the ticket which is a huge advantage.

One of the main problems with Bevin in 19 is there were just a whole bunch of Republicans that didnt want to vote for him, and guess what? They didnt.

Beshear defeated Bevin by about 5,000 votes in the 2019 general election.

Jennings pointed out that more Kentucky voters are registered Republican than when Bevin was seeking reelection. Cameron will benefit from the work done in the primary by all of the candidates, Voss said. The contested GOP primary encouraged voters to register and gained their attention. Heading into the primary election, 1,587,478 Kentucky voters were registered Republicans. Democrats had 1,534,606.

And, Jennings said, Cameron has widespread support geographically and in the ideological wings of the party.

Voss agreed, saying the Republican candidates had very few differences between them despite the numerous negative ads.

This primary has been mostly gain for the GOP, despite the fact theyve attacked each other, Voss said.

But Voss and Miller disagreed about whether the attack ads by his GOP rivals would hurt Cameron in the general election.

Voss said the damage would likely not linger but Miller said damage has been done by negative ads.

Kelly Crafts ads were not just seen by Republican primary voters but by general election voters as well, and so I think that that weakens Cameron as a general election candidate, Miller said.

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Beshear, Cameron face-off seen as referendum on culture wars in ... - Commonwealth Journal's History

A controversial free-speech activist and author is slamming the London Public Library for barring her from delivering a public lecture at the downtown branch, a move she calls textbook illustration of contemporary censorship.

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Joanna Williams, a British commentator and lecturer, said she was scheduled to speak on Sex, Gender and the Limits of Free Speech on Campus at a meeting of a Canadian academic freedom group, but the librarys refusal to rent them space forced a change of venue.

Make no mistake, it is very clearly my views that the library objects to here. . . . They have set themselves up as gatekeepers of what can and cannot be said, she wrote in a column in Spiked, a publication that advocates for free speech.

The London Public Library seemingly has no problem hosting drag queen storytimes for young children. By stopping me from speaking, it is clearly taking sides in the gender debate and preventing the opposing view from being heard.

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Williams claims library officials asked the event organizers for background details on the content of her lecture during the process of booking the room. The request to rent space was denied by library officials, who said her lecture violated its policy and was likely to pose a risk of physical danger to participants or the audience or misuse of the property or equipment, she wrote in Spiked.

In a statement Thursday, London Public Library said there were multiple policy-related concerns that the board and senior leadership team considered when deciding not to rent space to the Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship (SAFS).

The library said there was a risk or likelihood of physical danger to participants or the audience along with the potential or likelihood the event would negatively impact other peoples enjoyment of the facilities.

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The library also said the events content is or is likely a violation of its policies, including the rules of conduct and workplace harassment and sexual harassment prevention policies.

We respect that not everyone will agree with this decision, and we value the many perspectives that may be shared about this situation, library officials said in a statement.

London Public Library is committed to supporting Londoners and the community of London. We are guided in this work by our primary values of exceptional customer service and anti-racism and anti-oppression, which we hold alongside the values of strong relationships, digital empowerment, accountability and responsibility.

Debates over gender identity and the inclusion of transgender individuals in traditionally single-sex spaces and sports have flared in recent years, with strong opinions on both sides.

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Williams is speaking during the annual meeting of the SAFS, which was founded in London in 1992.

The non-partisan Halifax-based group advocates against codes of conduct for speech, so-called anti-hate legislation that infringes on academics ability to teach and research controversial subjects and diversity policies that favour student or faculty groups based on race or sex instead of merit-based grounds, its website says.

The non-profits two-day annual meeting starts in London on Friday.

Williams talk is now being held at a downtown hotel, the Delta London Armouries, Friday evening.

Williams is also the author of several books, including How Woke Won: The Elitist Movement that Threatens Democracy, Tolerance and Reason, which was released last fall.

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Culture wars flare at London library over speaker's blocked lecture on gender - The London Free Press

Is there no safe beer for conservatives in America to drink right now?!

First, Bud Light sent a few beers to a transgender influencer in early April. Then, Miller Lite ran an ad celebrating female brewers and offering up a lighthearted mea culpa over all the beer ads over the years featuring women in bikinis. Actually, the Miller Lite thing happened before the Bud Light thing, back in March for Womens History Month, but most people didnt see the Miller Lite thing before now. So now some on the right are mad about both of these major beer brands over what they see as selling out and taking progressive positions in supporting trans people and women.

Its not like beers are totally progressive now though, either. The customers these campaigns were aimed at might be upset to notice that Bud Light parent company Anheuser-Busch InBev hasnt exactly stuck to its guns on Dylan Mulvaney, the trans influencer in question, and neither companys political donations are super aligned with left-leaning causes.

Its almost like beer companies do not have a consistent, coherent set of morals and values consumers should look to for cues on what to buy. The same goes for all companies, for that matter. Corporations are not your friends, let alone your political allies.

Think of it this way, whatever your political inclinations: The beers are the drinking buddies you suspect really dont have your best interests at heart when they suggest you order just one more at the bar before you head home. Theyve been putting all of the rounds on your tab, and are drinking with the other guy at the bar who really irks you.

If you had asked me what one of the major business stories of the first half of the year would be in 2023, I would not have said beer brands doing supposedly woke stuff. But here we are, and so here I am, too.

In April, Bud Light sent trans influencer and activist Mulvaney some cans of beer and Mulvaney posted about it on social media, presumably as part of a pretty run-of-the-mill paid sponsorship deal. It sparked outrage on the right as part of the ongoing backlash toward trans rights and visibility, with some conservative beer-drinkers feeling like it represented a betrayal and calling for a boycott. Kid Rock shot some beers, Travis Tritt said he was axing the brand from his tour. Indeed, Bud Light sales have declined in the wake of the backlash, though as with any boycott, its hard to know how long the impact will last. (Vox has a full explainer on the Bud Light situation here.)

In May, apparently in search of another target, conservatives decided that Miller Lite was bad, too, and overly woke. People dug up an ad from March and are now mad about that. In said ad, actress and comedian Ilana Glazer talks about an initiative at the company titled Bad $#!T to Good $#!T to create fertilizer from old, sexist beer advertising (read: featuring scantily clad women). The fertilizer was supposed to be used to grow hops for female brewers.

Its not entirely clear why the right has seized on this just now, as Miller Brewing Company, which is owned by Molson Coors, put out the ad and a press release announcing the fertilizer campaign more than two months ago. But the conservative bear has been poked. Right-leaning commentators and outlets have lamented that this is another piece of evidence that the beer companies are broken, complaining that another brand has jumped into a woke beer game and is headed for the boycott treatment too.

A quick scan of Twitter would indicate theres some confusion over what exactly the Miller Lite controversy is or who is at fault. Many people seem mistaken on the timeline and dont realize its ad came a month before the Bud Light ad and instead believe Miller is following in Buds footsteps. One commentator thought Miller was owned by AB InBev, but it is not.

This is emblematic of the broader controversy a lot of people have lost the plot on what exactly happened with Bud Light, to the extent they ever knew it. Some consumers incorrectly believe the company undertook a broad-based marketing campaign with Mulvaney, that beer cans featuring her image are for sale to the public, or that AB InBev is marketing cans with pronouns on them in the US. None of those things are true. Anheuser-Busch CEO Michel Doukeris got at the issue in the companys most recent earnings call, pointing out that misinformation and confusion still exists around what even happened. We will need to continue to clarify the fact that this was one can, one influencer, one post, and not a campaign, and repeat this message for some time, he said.

Some of the pushback to Bud Lights Mulvaney partnership was supposedly that it was offensive to women. In her post, Mulvaney said she didnt know what March Madness was, which some people claimed played into outdated stereotypes. In response to Voxs original Bud Light explainer, one reader lamented, We have come a long way in this country as women. Women before us have fought hard to get the respect we deserve. Do you want to go back to a time where women needed to act dumb and look pretty? On a larger scale, some anti-trans sentiment proclaims to be about protecting women. It certainly seems that the reaction to the Miller Lite ad, which is coming from many of the same people, would undercut this whole pro-women thing.

The controversy over Bud Lights partnership has had some legs to it. Bud Light sales were down by 23 percent from a year ago in the week ending on April 29, and Budweiser sales were down by 11 percent. Sales of other AB InBev products, such as Michelob Ultra, have fallen, too.

HSBC analyst Carlos Laboy downgraded AB InBevs stock in May, saying the Mulvaney dust-up has caused deeper problems than ABI admits and criticizing company managements handling of the matter. The way this Bud Light crisis came about a month ago, managements response to it and the loss of unprecedented volume and brand relevance raises many questions, he wrote. He questioned whether the company is hiring the best people to grow the brands and gauge risk internally. If Budweiser and Bud Light are iconic American ideas that have long brought consumers together, why did these marketers fail to invite new consumers without alienating the core base of the firms largest brand?

Theres no denying AB InBevs handling of the situation has been messy. Initially, the company went dark on the matter, putting out a single statement and keeping quiet on social media. Then, it put out a longer statement from the CEO that in actuality says very little and managed to anger some progressives and LGBTQ groups, too. It also put some marketing executives on leave. Overall, its sort of just continued to muddle through, and nobodys happy in any corner.

Its not clear whether the storm thats subsumed Bud Light is headed for Miller Lite. Given the current state of culture wars in America, trans rights do seem to be more of a hot-button issue than, you know, the existence of women, but who knows.

For now, Miller Lite appears to be taking the fuss in stride. This video was about two things: worm poop and saying women shouldnt be forced to mud wrestle in order to sell beer, a spokesperson for Molson Coors said in an emailed statement to Vox. Neither of these things should be remotely controversial and we hope beer drinkers can appreciate the humor (and ridiculousness) of this video from back in March.

The website the ad was touting appears to have been taken down, and the video is a smidge hard to find online. Miller Lites social media is also filled with people yelling at it about the ad.

For those currently looking to boycott Bud Light and Miller Lite, note that their parent companies really have the US beer market cornered, accounting for about two-thirds of sales. So if you want to buy from elsewhere, you might have a hard time doing it. You probably do not even know all the brands they sell, and if youre really looking, you can likely find something to be mad about that, say, some Constellation Brands brew, including Modelo and Corona, did at some point. Theres that conservative dad guy selling Ultra Right beer, but its $19.99 for a six-pack, and it wont ship for another 30 days. Also, watch out, because Pride Month is just around the corner, and the corporations love it.

The weekend after the Bud Light dust-up really hit, I had a couple of friends order one at the bar, laughingly declaring it meant they were supporting trans rights. (I am not a beer drinker, or I probably would have joined in.) It was all in jest, but it points to a bigger question of the way we often think about our choices as consumers: as political acts toward entities that are, by and large, apolitical.

Corporations are under more and more pressure to take a stand on the political issues of the day, not only from customers but also from workers. And they increasingly do. But they usually do so because ultimately they believe its good for their bottom lines. Making money for shareholders is the whole game.

Bud Light didnt send beer to Mulvaney because it wants to become a champion of trans rights, it did so because the brand is struggling and it thought LGBTQ consumers were a potential avenue for expansion. Miller Lites leaders arent lying in bed at night sick over all of those sexist ads over the years. They know women have money to spend, and they would like them to spend it on their beers.

Its easy to make light of this stuff people calling for boycotts of random alcoholic beverages because of small online campaigns they found is quite silly. There are, obviously, quite serious elements to this. On a cultural level, the backlash against trans rights in the US is scary for many trans people in the country just trying to live their lives. For all the strides women have supposedly made, they still face setbacks and biases in so many ways and lack basic rights and protections. Abortion rights across the country were rolled back last year.

Companies would probably much rather escape the culture wars, but they cant. Its important to remember they are imperfect culture warriors, and that the only war theyre really fighting is for dollars.

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Miller Lites woke ad honoring women sparks backlash from Bud Light boycott people - Vox.com

I havent been back there for a while, years actually. But Ive been reading about it constantly, listening to stuff about it, taking what I thought was a keen interest. Based on everything I know, everything Im certain about, it has changed beyond all recognition.

Except it hasnt. And that has come as a complete shock to me. The England I remember as a teenager, as a young adult, as a working man, is still there. Its still a beautiful country. Its towns and villages are full of character and charm, its suburbs are neat, its countryside sprawling and gorgeous, its cities frightening in their vastness and complexity.

And the people are the same. Im one of those unfortunate travellers who instantly loses the ability to tell my left from my right the moment I land in a different country. So Im always lost, and often dependent on the kindness of strangers. In England, strangers are kind, always willing to help a poor lost eejit.

I had a complete crisis when I found my car in a car park with a completely dead battery. Although I had jump leads I needed another driver to assist. The first two I asked and I want looking at the colour of their skin mumbled excuses and moved away. The third man said, sure mate, show me how its done. While he was helping me, the first two came back. They hadnt understood my foreign accent and were a bit nervous about getting involved until they saw someone else at it and realised what the problem was.

While most of the strangers I interacted with were white, they werent all. But every single one of them had English accents and mannerisms. Another terrible shock. For months now Ive been reading that Britain not just England is being overrun, that tens of thousands of unchecked foreigners are stealing everything: jobs, public services, but also culture and identity. Theyre swarthy, these invaders, and speak with thick, threatening accents.

Of course, Id have to be there a lot longer to see it all, but I can tell you now (as one example) that Leighton Buzzard, an attractive little market town in Bedfordshire, about 40 miles north of London, is almost entirely white. Our niece, Karen (who lives there), tells me that nearby Luton has a much stronger Asian population, a lot of whom are very religious.

Talking of religion, one of my other nieces is the principal of a secondary school in Lancashire in the north. Its recognised as a really good and high-achieving school, despite its very high proportion of Asian and Muslim students. What do you mean, despite? she said when I asked her about it. Asian and Muslim kids are ambitious, and so are their parents. Theyve given up a lot to be here, and its principally because they want their kids to have safe and secure futures.

The problem she faces and this is easy to recognise is the large number of kids in the school, from all forms of ethnic backgrounds, whose lives are affected by economic disadvantage. But as a general rule and this is her voice of experience talking immigrant kids keep standards up, because their family expectations are high.

So a lot of observation and as much chat as I could manage left me really puzzled.

Theres a thing going on in British politics, its very unsavoury, and it's being led by government ministers.

Culture wars, its called an attempt to whip up resentment against anyone who looks different and its completely out of sync with the personality of the great majority of English people

Im not saying there are no racists in England. But by far the greater number of people just want to get on with their neighbours and get on with their lives. Theres far more generosity and ordinary decency in England than the stuff some of their politicians are trying to peddle them.

Yes, theres a feeling of powerlessness in the face of economics, and its not hard to see why. I can only offer you anecdotal evidence, but I have a very strong sense that the cost of living crisis has hit English families even harder than Irish families. (Please dont feel you need to have a go at me of course, I know Irish families are suffering a lot and Ive written about it before.) But everywhere you go in England, the price of ordinary goods in the shops is frightening. We were celebrating a birthday, so a nice lunch and a couple of West End theatre tickets were on our menu and mother of sweet divine the cost of them. But apart from that, petrol, fruit and veg, bread and milk, the most basic stuff is at prices way ahead of ours now, and thats saying something.

The most common conversation we had, with virtually everyone we met, was about energy costs. You end up with a very strong sense that people are really afraid of where things are heading and they certainly dont feel that their government has gone out of its way to help them.

But rather than address the problem with some real help, it seems to be the case that Tory politics is actively trying to turn that sense of powerlessness and anxiety into a resentment of everyone else

Id a long conversation about Brexit with one friend. Now, he didnt tell me he had voted for Brexit, but he did argue persuasively that a lot of people including on the left had concluded that there was something rotten about the democratic deficit within Europe, and that there was a decent democratic basis for the argument about the need to take back control. I think if pushed he would acknowledge that leaving Europe hadnt put anyone in control of anything better.

Overall, I think I detected a real yearning to turn the clock back. Very few of the majority who voted to leave want to admit they made a terrible mistake. But there are more than a few who feel very sheepish about that decision and wish it had never happened.

Heres my conclusion. England is a beautiful country, full of warm, intelligent, and decent people. They dont understand whats being said about them by their own leaders. They dont understand why theyre being told to be afraid now, for the first time in their history, of anyone with a different skin colour or foreign accent. Ask an English person for help, and his or her instinct is to help. Not to run away. They dont do afraid.

For all those reasons, I think the politics being played out now the culture wars being stirred up by the Tories are a bit of an insult to the intelligence but also the decency of the English people. Thats why theyre not going to work in the end. The narrow bigotry that successful culture wars depend on is not, ultimately, part of the English character. As for me, I cant wait to get back for another visit.

Originally posted here:
Fergus Finlay: Culture wars are an insult to the intelligence of ... - Irish Examiner

This story is part of a documentary project on Gender Queer and the Culture Wars in Michigans Libraries. To watch the video, click here.

Nobody could predict a little library in Ottawa County, just southwest of Grand Rapids, would ignite a literary culture war across Michigan when it chose not to pull a handful of LGBTQ books from its shelves in 2022.

At the heart of the issue was Gender Queer: A Memoir, by Maia Kobabe, which made waves within the community serviced by Patmos Library in west Michigan. At library board meetings, whether to keep or ditch the book, and others like it was characterized as outright war a battle of good versus evil.

The story centers on Kobabes journey coming out as a non-binary, asexual person and the internal and external struggles e faced as a result. Part of that story, though, involves Kobabe who uses the pronouns e/em/eir recounting sexual experiences or fantasies via illustration, leaving little to the imagination.

Its led to a divide in communities across Michigan. At public and school libraries, books like Gender Queer have sparked outrage on whether the materials should be available at all and what roles libraries play in preventing children from viewing materials on sex, gender and sexuality.

As a graphic novel, some feel the medium inherently caters to children and take offense to the sex and imagery within. Others, however, say simply because the book contains pictures does not mean it is marketed to young children, meaning those claiming the book is meant to introduce sex acts to children are doing so in bad faith.

For Kobabe, the memoir is not meant for young children, with the audience for Gender Queer considered to be high school level and above.

It would have meant the world to me to find a book like Gender Queer as a teen reader ... it would have saved me like 10 years of questioning and confusion and uncertainty about who I was, Kobabe told MLive. I could have known sooner more about who I am as a person and, because of that, moved on to different questions, different learning, different experiences earlier if I had been able to read this kind of book and have some of these questions answered.

But despite what Kobabe thinks, some parents and community members arent mollified and believe the book should be kept away from where children could have access to it.

I think theres definitely a danger in children opening the book and maybe being encouraged to do things that theyre not ready for and that they should not be responsible for, said Laura Parkes, a mother of five who is in favor of the Lapeer Library removing Gender Queer from its shelves.

I dont believe we should give that burden or responsibility to our children to embrace so many sexualities at such a young age. They need context, they need time. ... Too much information is confusing.

Others, however, see the books as no different than any other item referencing sex or sexuality. And given many of the challenged books focus LGBTQ subjects, proponents here are quick to argue this isnt about protecting children but minimizing or erasing queer stories from public view.

I think its a slippery slope, and it sets a precedent for us to pull other books that are deemed not safe ... We start banning books like Gender Queer, then we start silencing other voices and having more of a monolith shown in our libraries, said Erin Cavanaugh, a mother of three and clinical social worker in Lapeer whos in favor of keeping the book on shelves. Its just not something we can do.

And in the middle? Libraries and their staff, who bear the brunt of this rage and the consequences of these efforts.

Challenging library books isnt new, but it is one that has steadily gained public attention over the last several years, topping out in 2022 at 359 books challenged across Michigans libraries.

Thats compared to just eight books challenged in 2017, according to the American Library Association, a nonprofit promoting libraries and library education internationally.

Clare Membiela, library law consultant for the Library of Michigan, said libraries frequently prune their collections to best serve their communities needs.

But challenging libraries to remove a book from their system comes with a high bar, she said. Simply demanding a book be removed because of its subject matter regardless if a person or group thinks the topic is obscene isnt enough to warrant taking it off shelves.

A public librarys mission is to permit the exercise of the First Amendment right to information and children also have those same rights. ... Its not up to the library to police what the children check out, Membiela said. Thats a job for their parents.

Thats especially true considering obscenity has a legal definition, with a test to determine it created by the U.S. Supreme Court as part of the 1973 ruling in Miller v. California.

A work as a whole must fail to meet contemporary community standards, describe or depict sexual conduct in a patently offensive way and lack serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value to be truly considered obscene.

Simply depicting a sex scene or containing nudity, such as in the case of Gender Queer, is not enough to warrant a book obscene.

And because Michigan recently amended its civil rights act to explicitly include protections for LGBTQ residents, Membiela said libraries are in a precarious situation when it comes to removing like-issue books from shelves.

If you have a library thats removing all of their LGBTQ-themed materials, and a library is supposed to reflect its community, then is there a discrimination issue here now? ... Theres some other facets to this that go beyond just the intellectual freedom question, she said.

Its something Kobabe echoed, saying the criticism of the work isnt personal, but removing the book completely from a library is.

I think that an attack on libraries, an attack on free speech, is an attack on every single American citizen, myself included, Kobabe said. So, I take it very personally in the sense that I feel like I am seeing the freedoms of our country being degraded. But I do not take it personally in that I think that I have written a bad book.

For Parkes, the parent who would like to see the book removed, it isnt a question of all LGBTQ narratives, but rather what to do with Gender Queer.

I dont believe that removing the book from the library is going to suppress an entire community ... I dont believe thats a valid argument, she said. I know we can get very emotional talking about these things, but were talking about one book. And I cant believe, in that community in the LGBTQ community that your identity lies in a single book. How can that be true?

But for parents like Cavanaugh and her wife, Lisa, keeping these types of stories available in the library means providing a safe environment for a person who sees themselves reflected in the pages of Gender Queer.

Imagine if you were that kid, and you were trying to sort through these feelings by yourself, and you didnt have any resources and all you had were maybe parents that werent supportive and telling you that you were wrong, Cavanaugh said. This books helps you to be seen, and have a light out of that darkness.

The American Library Association noted 1,269 demands to censor library books and resources in 2022. Its the highest number since the association began tracking those numbers more than 20 years ago.

Of the top 10 most challenged books, Gender Queer came in at No. 1 nationwide, and seven of the 13 novels three novels tied for 10th place as the most challenged were specifically challenged for containing LGBTQIA+ subject matter.

In Lapeer, Library Director Amy Churchill accused the county prosecutor of publicly trying to intimidate the library into removing the book after receiving a FOIA with an official Lapeer County Prosecutors Office letterhead earlier this year.

The book is currently under review, with County Prosecutor John Miller telling Bridge Michigan in March that the memoir could rise to the level of accosting, enticing or soliciting a child for immoral purpose. In Michigan, that charge carries a felony punishment of up to four years in prison.

The story is the same at Kalamazoo Countys Galesburg-Augusta high School and Bear Creek Townships Petoskey Public Library, where complaints of the books sexual imagery has caused residents particularly parents of school-aged children to push back against the contents of the graphic novel.

And for Patmos, its own community defunded the library after staff made the decision not to remove Kobabes memoir from shelves. Barring new funding, the library is slated to close in mid-2024 after two operating millage proposals failed in the midst of fervor surrounding the book.

Cierra Bakovka, a former adult services librarian for the Patmos Library, said the book was kept on the shelves out of a need for patrons to have all the choices they could ever need.

For her, to hear that libraries were potentially in legal hot water over simply stocking books was frightening. To see Patmos at risk of closing over it was heartbreaking especially considering that, to Bakovka, there was never a real question over whether to pull the book.

A lot of people like to read books that they relate to, that are about them, but its super important to know that not every community is made up of the same people, she said. Some people might have a majority, some people might have a minority in their community, but that doesnt make their experience any less valid or any less important to be represented and seen. ... You do your best to make sure everyone is represented. Not just whos the loudest.

With the library clamor growing, its garnered the attention of lawmakers in Lansing. Its whats prompted state Rep. Neil Friske, R-Charlevoix, to come up with his own solution to keep both sides happy: make an age restricted, 18-and-up section of the library.

Friske introduced a bill earlier this year which would require the governing body of a library to create and enforce a policy addressing obscene or sexually explicit matter, which could be potentially available to children.

What constitutes as obscene isnt defined under the bill, and Michigans oldest library association has already indicated that, legally, no library in-state carries obscene books.

When confronted with that statement, Friske pointed to a graphic novel on sex education hed checked out from a Michigan library and questioned how someone could defend a 10-year-old being able to pick up the book and leaf through detailed drawings of sex and genitalia.

Im not trying to remove the material, thats not what this bill is about. Its just to limit the access to it, Friske said.

For Membiela, the Michigan Library law consultant, rehoming books considered obscene to an age-restricted section of a library creates more problems than it solves, including determining what a child can and cant read, effectively overruling their own First Amendment rights.

There is also a concern for space and whether it would even be physically possible for a library to create a secluded, monitored 18+ section.

How do I delicately put this? Just from a public access standpoint ... putting all of the more adult materials in back, in a room thats sequestered, is kind of inviting some problems of another kind, Membiela said.

As Democrats oversee both the state House and Senate, theres little hope of the bill even receiving a committee hearing.

Still, Friske sees it as a matter of principal, keeping adult-level books away from children, and said arguments to the contrary like debating what constitutes obscene materials and whether libraries have the space to enact his bill are weak in his eyes.

Im not at all targeting LGBT community people, necessarily. Im not really targeting anybody, he said. Im just trying to protect kids.

And thats what it seems to boil down to: At the heart of the matter, those for and those against keeping books like Gender Queer on library shelves viewed themselves as having the best interest of children, and the broader community, top of mind.

The book is currently stocked at more than 100 public libraries across Michigan, with even more likely to have LGBTQ-related novels on their shelves as well. With the fervor surrounding book challenges, its unlikely the issue will simmer any time soon.

Its not something Kobabe ever thought would be an outcome when e published Gender Queer in 2019 mostly, e said, because initial reception to the graphic novel was overwhelmingly positive.

Even when pushback began to mount in 2021, and into the last two years, e admitted the positive feedback still outweighs the negative five-to-one.

When I wrote this book, I didnt know if anyone would relate to it. I also didnt know if anyone, aside from the people who knew me personally, would read it, Kobabe said. It has really been amazing to see this book find readers outside of my own sort of small circle of community.

And anyone who read it: I am in community with you. I see you, I support you, and I hope you can understand that these attacks on this book, and the attacks on other queer books, are not a reflection of your identity, or the validity of your identity.

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Outright war: Gender Queer and the attack on Michigan libraries - MLive.com