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Aug 22, 2023

St. Tammany library resolution faceplants

Library supporters (left to right) Kristen Luchsinger, Mike Luchsinger, and Kim Turner held signs outside the council chambers before a meeting on a resolution about the library on Aug. 30, 2023.

Library supporters (left to right) Kristen Luchsinger, Mike Luchsinger, and Kim Turner held signs outside the council chambers before a meeting on a resolution about the library on Aug. 30, 2023.

Proponents of book restrictions and library supporters found some unexpected common ground at a St. Tammany Parish Council meeting Wednesday night: Voices on both sides took council members to task over a library resolution that they said was toothless.

Under pressure from constituents, Parish Council member Mike Smith offered a resolution that called for supporting a state law aimed at limiting library access to books with sexual content. Smith’s goal was, in part, to give library patrons a chance to have their voices heard before the Parish Council rather than the board that oversees the parish's public libraries.

But few were happy with his resolution. People on both sides of the polarizing issue said it was a “dog-and-pony show,” with one speaker calling it a “verbal nothingburger.” Only 14 of the 67 St. Tammany residents who spoke Wednesday night supported the resolution.

After more than three hours of public comment and discussion among council members, the council rejected it.

The inclusion of books — primarily books related to LGBTQ+ issues — on the shelves of the parish’s libraries has been a hot-button issue. Communities across the country have been increasingly calling on libraries and public school systems to ban certain books. In St. Tammany, more than 170 books have been temporarily taken off the shelves while the library reviews formal complaints.

Though attendees at Wednesday’s meeting were nearly united in opposition to the resolution, that didn’t stop tensions from flaring. Outside the council chamber, one altercation, partially caught on video, between two people appeared to turn physical.

Richard Mahoney holds a sign advocating for restricting access to certain books in the parish's library system.

The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office is investigating, a spokesperson said.

The resolution called for the parish to support Act 436, which was signed into law by Gov. John Bel Edwards in June. Smith called on the “the Library Board of Control to adopt any and all necessary policies and procedures in compliance with” the state law.

But as speakers across the ideological spectrum pointed out, Act 436 is already law and the parish is required to abide by it. The act requires the library to institute many procedures that the St. Tammany library system has already put into place, such as affording patrons a means to ask for a review of books in the kids' section and a library card system that prevents minors from checking out books from the adult section without parental consent.

“This was partially to allow people to do their public commentary,” Smith said. “I hope this resolution passes, but at least you got your … three minutes to speak in front of the council.”

The resolution at least succeeded in that. Dozens took to the podium.

“I believe these books have benefitted me and they could benefit the people in this room as well,” said Kayla Martinez.

“I live in a multicultural, multiracial, gender-fluid world — as do each of you,” said Ruth Terry-Sipos of Abita Springs.

“This isn’t about diversity. This is about perversity,” said Richard Mahoney. “You invoked our Lord Jesus Christ’s name, who calls this an abomination — who says that better a millstone be hung around your neck and thrown into the bottom of the sea than you would diabolically sexually disorient or corrupt the innocence of a child.”

A packed room inside the parish council chambers for a meeting to vote on a resolution related to the St. Tammany Parish library system on Aug. 30, 2023.

About 90 minutes into the meeting, one attendee interrupted from the back of the room to say that she had been assaulted outside.

Parish Council members took notice of the altercation from the dais.

“For people to get out there and literally fight with each other because of this is crazy,” said Council member Rykert Toledano during the meeting. He also called out the political threats levied at council members over social media. “The minute you threaten someone, you lose all of your integrity and all ability to make your point. You become, in my mind, a jackass.”

Council Chairman Jake Airey, who also sits on the library board, sounded an exasperated note at the end of the meeting. He noted that many of the book complaints the library board has received don’t accurately reflect what’s actually in the books. One recent complaint, for example, referred to page 362 of a book that was only 40 pages long.

Airey also called attention to some of the other issues before the council.

“We have a $20 million [budget] hole,” he said. “So all of us are going to be reading four- and five-hundred-page books and making decisions on that — or do you want us figuring out what FEMA’s doing to your flood insurance rates?”

Email Alex Lubben at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter, @AlexLubben.