Lake Luzerne is a small town in New York. However, it enjoyed some notable news in the past year, and the crisis has yet to have a conclusive resolution.
Protests broke out after a small public library in Lake Luzerne decided to host a Drag Queen Story Hour. The board of trustees was eventually forced to close the facility, and to date, it is still struggling to reopen.
Lake Luzerne’s public library has been in operation for 53 years. However, the library had to close its doors to the public for the first time in its long history. The build-up to the fiasco started in April 2023.
Before the crisis, the library has always hosted a bi-weekly reading for children. However, the library’s board of trustees decided to spice things up. So, in April, they reached out to the Vermont chapter of the Drag Queen Story Hour for a one-off reading.
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According to the now ex-chair of the board, Amanda Hoffman, the Drag Queen Story Hour was going to be a celebration of residents’ diversity. It is an opportunity for the 1,400 residents of the small town to celebrate, irrespective of their self-identity. However, that single decision marked the beginning of a new chapter for the library.
Unfortunately, word got out about the event, and it never saw the light of day, at least not in the library. Just a few days after the announcement, the library’s next board of trustee meeting played host to a mammoth crowd. Apparently, these were Conservatives who did not support holding a queer event in Lake Luzerne’s public library.
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In an interview with The New York Times, Hoffman cited several abuses that board members have encountered at the hands of the protesting mob. She said library staff members were physically assaulted. The library has received bomb threats. Personally, some protesters called Hoffman derogatory names like pedophile, groomer, and child abuser.
Josh Jacquard is one of the protest leaders. During one of his statements, he said the library is actively working at “converting our children to an overly sexualized lifestyle and way of thinking.” Jacquard is a clergyman from a nearby Baptist Church. In a counter statement, Hoffman mentioned that no one invited the minister’s children to the event.
In May 2023, Jacquard was elected to the library’s board. Before long, the administration of the public facility became divided. Jacquard’s first initiative was to catalog all books bought by the library since the previous year. While doing so, he labeled many of the books as promoting a gay lifestyle. Eventually, the situation became so volatile that many of the library’s board members and staff resigned.
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As a consolation, the Upper Hudson Queer Alliance organized the first-ever Drag Queen Story Hour to be held in Lake Luzerne. However, it was not held in the library.
Due to the multiple resignations of the library’s board members and staff, keeping the library open became impractical. However, the New York Education Department intervened by appointing three new board members to the library. Hopefully, the new Lake Luzerne library board will succeed in winning back the public’s hearts
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