It all started with one parent’s complaint about a book in the children’s section of the Lincolnwood, Illinois, library this summer.
The mother, there with her twins, objected to the shelf display of “The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish,” a colorful 40-page children’s book that had been featured at the library’s story time in June, and confronted a staff member about whether the book was appropriate for children. She filed a formal challenge to the book Sept. 2, records show.
What happened next is a scene being played out at board meetings in schools and libraries across the country as parents, activists, politicians and educators argue over programming and materials dealing with gender and sexuality at public institutions in an escalating battle about who has the right to make the call. Last week, that debate took an explosive turn at the Lincolnwood Public Library Board meeting when police were called, the meeting was cut short and staff were left thinking about their safety at work.
“I’ll be very honest with you, it’s one of those things that I never really thought would come to this community,” Lincolnwood Public Library Deputy Director Chris Renkosiak told the Tribune.
In interviews and in emails obtained through a public records request, the Tribune learned the fiery meeting was weeks in the making. Preparations included a petition from residents opposed to the books bearing more than 100 signatures, residents on both sides of the issue peppering the library with comments and, about a week before the Oct. 24 meeting, parents dubious about the books meeting with conservative activist organization Heritage Action for America, based in Washington, D.C., for tips on getting out their message.
More than 60 people packed the Oct. 24 meeting of the library board after being dissatisfied with the outcome from the board’s September meeting. Video and audio of the Oct. 24 meeting obtained by the Tribune showed the meeting quickly devolved into shouting and police dispersed attendees.
Heritage Action for America spokesperson Carson Steelman confirmed that the organization’s regional director, Matt Crouch, met before the Oct. 24 meeting with Lincolnwood parents concerned about the book and the library’s programming.
In a statement, Crouch said Heritage Action for America strives to “equip activists and concerned citizens with the resources and training they need to make their voices heard at the local, state, and federal levels of government. This includes the Lincolnwood Library, where citizens are rightly concerned about the presence of inappropriate material in the children’s section of the library.”
The day after the meeting, Awake Niles Township, a local chapter of the activist organization Awake Illinois, posted a copy of the library’s response to the book challenge on its social media page.
Awake Illinois, which describes itself as a parental and constitutional rights organization and has opposed mask mandates, has expanded its activism to oppose critical race theory and discussions of sex education in schools. It has issued calls to action against family-friendly drag show events across Chicagoland, including a drag queen bingo event at the Downers Grove Public Library that was eventually canceled after receiving numerous threats and aggressive emails.
Emily Knox, an expert on book banning and an associate professor in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said the American Library Association has been tracking book challenges for 40 years, and this is the biggest increase they have seen at any time, starting in the fall of 2021.
“It’s really related to several things. The pandemic was a big part of it. So, school came home, and people were seeing what their kids were learning. Another part is really just the general culture wars that we’re going through at the moment,” said Knox, who called the book challenges and bannings “reactionary.”
“People wonder: ‘Where did someone hear about this in the first place? Where’s my child learning about this?’” she said. “And they’re like, ‘Oh, they must be learning about it from books. And so if I take the book away, maybe my child won’t question their identity.”
According to a recent study by PEN America, book bans are on the rise in schools across the United States, including a few cases in Illinois. About a third of book bannings between July 2021 and April 2022 explicitly addressed LGBTQ themes, or had protagonists or prominent secondary characters who were LGBTQ. The mounting challenges to books inspired the city of Chicago to establish book sanctuaries for books that have been banned, or attempted to be banned, in other libraries across the country.
The increased scrutiny on libraries spurred Renkosiak and his colleagues to devote significant time to training workers for “the very worst-case scenario,” he said. The last staff development day in August trained library workers in active assailant training, he said.
“We needed to start preparing people,” Renkosiak said. “It’s something that terrifies staff — not having to deal with conflict or having difficult conversations, but just how quickly it can escalate.”
The events of Oct. 24 were proof of that, he added.
The mother who launched the initial complaint did not return phone calls requesting comment. Minutes from the library board’s Sept. 19 meeting show that 11 people made public comments regarding her challenge, which got a formal discussion later in the meeting but no action was taken by the library board.
Library Director Josephine Tucci told the Tribune that she had expected public commenters to attend the October meeting to discuss that challenge.
“I assumed that it was just a carry-over of the initial book that was challenged,” she said.
The book had first stirred a quiet controversy when it was featured in a Pride-themed story time the library sponsored in Drake Park on June 16. At that public event, a librarian read the book, and there was “a coloring sheet featuring a parent or a caregiver hugging a child with the words or the letters LGBTQ plus on it,” Renkosiak said.
The library received some negative feedback over that programming, he recalled. “We got some interesting comments from members of the public, saying that it was inappropriate and that it was disgusting,” he said.
Communications reviewed by the Tribune from a public records request show the library fielded five email complaints about the story time.
But perhaps in a sign of the mounting controversy, the records also showed that on June 21, a Lincolnwood law firm, McCabe Kirshner, filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the participants registered for the story time, including the title and author of any books read at the event, copies of the songs performed and any handouts distributed at the event, the names of the library staff who were present at the event and all communication related to planning, executing or discussing the event.
A partner for the law firm did not return a call or email seeking comment about the records request.
“We’re certainly seeing a lot of challenges to library materials. And the materials seem to be very specific,” said Executive Director of the Illinois Library Association Cynthia Robinson. “They’re focused on LGBTQIA books and materials. And what we’re seeing is, the same challenges are happening across the country.”
Robinson said parents have a right to not read books to their children that they disagree with. “But you don’t get to make decisions for other people and other people’s children,” she added.
“Libraries are doing what they’ve always done,” Robinson said, “which is to serve the community and to provide materials for people in the community.”
