Keep politics out of displays

To the editor:

I’m petitioning the Public Library of Steubenville and Jefferson County to take away the “Pride Month” displays from the libraries this yr and sooner or later. Choosing to facet with one political ideology that alienates giant parts of our neighborhood makes the library much less welcoming and accessible to people and households who wish to use the amenities.

Public libraries are an vital useful resource that needs to be for everybody and so they need to chorus from selecting divisive political causes as month-to-month themes. While individuals ought to be capable of entry all info by way of interlibrary mortgage, our county libraries shouldn’t procure and show growing quantities of “woke” supplies, particularly not for the youngsters’s and younger adults’ sections.

Many mother and father whose households used to frequent the youngsters’s part now not really feel safe that our youngsters will solely have entry to age-appropriate and attention-grabbing subjects. Books about knitting and overseas international locations have been shoved behind books about “two daddies” and “boys becoming girls.” If somebody needs to show their youngsters issues like this in their very own house, that’s not my enterprise. But we don’t need to expose our kids to dangerous concepts about sexuality. And, nationwide information tales from the previous couple of years present Americans usually are not in settlement about these subjects by far.

Something good occurs when individuals from very completely different walks of life and views come collectively in a public place — they kind relationships and friendships and begin to perceive and care about one another. The choice to make the library solely welcoming to liberals drives a wedge and hurts the entire neighborhood. Join me in asking the library to return to being a spot for everybody, offering info and alternatives to all, and maintain politics out of the displays.

Laura Sirilla

Steub