Bear Creek residents voice concerns over LGBTQ+ content in Petoskey library

PETOSKEY — A recent Bear Creek Board of Trustees meeting reflected an issue that recently came to pass in Jamestown Township in Ottawa County.

In the August election, 1,905 Jamestown residents voted against a millage to renew the library’s funding over a controversy surrounding concerns that LGBTQ library books were “grooming” children.

The millage, which accounted for 84 percent of the library’s funding, will once again be on the ballot in November and if it fails to pass again, the library will likely close.

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In July, the Bear Creek Board of Trustees received a report about the recent Petoskey District Library board meeting. During the meeting, trustee Tom Urman said he had received phone calls from constituents complaining that the library had marched with the LGBTQ+ Alliance of Petoskey.

While the library did hold a community read event for Pride month in June, they did not march with the organization. The library was just the starting point for the marchers, library director Val Meyerson said.

One of the complaints received by the board was that taxpayer money was going towards programming relating to divisive issues, but Urman acknowledged that funding for this type of programming comes from the Friends of the Library. Meyerson confirmed this as well.

Meyerson addressed several other false claims that were in the minutes of the July meeting and requested that the minutes be corrected. The board said the minutes could not be changed because they reflected what was said in the meeting, whether the statements were accurate or not.

“(Meyerson) was concerned that a citizen had stood up and the statement that that citizen made, I can't quote it, she said wasn't accurate. But that's what the citizen said, that's what was recorded,” said board supervisor Dennis Keiser.

“That's my understanding why Val was coming to the meeting, to ask that we change those minutes, which we did not. But we said you can make a statement and that will be in this month’s minutes.”

Other concerns from the meeting included one from trustee Joe Hoffman, a long-time supporter of the library, about “Carnegie programs of can transgender men menstruate.” Another refuted claim from that meeting came from resident Donna Lively, who spoke up to say that a transgender person had been coming to the library to read to kids for years. Others claimed that the library’s float in the July 4 parade was LGBTQ+ themed.

At the following meeting on Aug. 3, Meyerson came in person to address these concerns. She said the library has never had programming about transgender men menstruating, but did host a movie premier about menstrual inequality, which included mention of transgender men. When asked by Hoffman why the library should be concerned about the issue, she stated that the library’s mission is to educate the public and felt this program would be educational for residents.

Meyerson also refuted Lively’s claim that a transgender person had been reading to kids for years.

“I've been here close to seven years and we have other staff that have been here for 26 years,” Meyerson said to the Petoskey News-Review. “No one has any recollection ever of transgender person reading to little kids, so that comment was 100 percent incorrect.”

Also clarified by Meyerson in the August meeting was that the July 4 parade float was space themed and that her salary is paid for by the library’s public funds, which is partially funded by the Bear Creek millage.

She went on to address other points made in the July minutes.

“I'll be very honest, it's frustrating because the folks that are complaining, and it's just a handful of people that are concerned about our services, to come and visit the library and see for themselves what we're all about,” Meyerson said.

“Many of these people haven't been in the library for years. They don't have library cards, they're certainly not regular library users and they're complaining about something that they really don't have firsthand knowledge of. They're just repeating, sometimes false information that they've heard from other people without even questioning it or calling the library or coming to a board meeting or walking in our doors and seeing what we're doing. And so I'd love to challenge these folks that are upset with what they think we're doing, come in and take a look and really see everything that we're doing.”

When it comes to the library’s funding, about 50 percent of it comes from the City of Petoskey while Bear Creek Township, Resort Township, Little Traverse Township and Springvale Township each have .4 voted mills that go to the library.

There was a brief discussion in the July meeting about the possibility of voting against the millage when it is up for renewal in 2024, but considering the library millage has received overwhelming support in the last few elections, this outcome seems unlikely.

If Bear Creek were to pull its funding however, that means the library would lose about 19 percent of its operating budget, enough that the library would lose some of its programs, but not enough to shut it down like in Ottawa County.

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“They provide 19 percent of the operating budget, but they're about 30 percent of our business,” Meyerson said. “If they did, for some reason, decide to vote us down, they would have to go someplace else for library service. We have over 2,200 card holders, 2,234 card holders from Bear Creek Township, which is 1,900 households. Those 1,900 households no longer would have library service.”

According to Hoffman, defunding the library was never the goal of this discussion. Instead it was for residents to express their concerns about the material that was being promoted to their children. Hoffman said the issue is not that the books are in the library, but that they are in view of and promoted to children and teens, as well as programming surrounding LGBTQ+ topics being directed towards younger demographics.

“I think the constituents and the people, some of them might object to having (LGBTQ+ books) in the library, but I think it's a matter of when you have staff-picked books that are front and center on the website,” Hoffman said.

“That, I think, is just not needed. Some of the different conferences are not needed. I think mostly myself and mostly the constituents just want it to go back to being a normal library without all the fanfare and all the hot topic, political issues of the day.”

This is not the first time Bear Creek residents have disagreed with the topics the library chooses to approach. In the summer of 2020, the library released a newsletter where one section announced the library’s partnership with McLean and Eakin Booksellers to stock more diverse books and encourage residents to read "White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism" by Robin DiAngelo in order to, “open your hearts to a different understanding.”

The Bear Creek Township Board followed the release of this newsletter with a letter sent on Aug. 18, 2020 stating that they have received feedback from residents, “who disapprove of the way their taxpayer dollars were spent.”

The board and residents took issue with the library taking a stance on political and social issues through the newsletter or through, “challenge cards or t-shirts promoting certain movements,” like racial justice.

“(The library has) put on some wonderful events. So, try to stick to that. Try to stick to things that are not as politically controversial,” Hoffman said.

“I would like (the library) to go back to what I would think would be a regular, normal library that didn't push these critical race books and all this stuff. We have enough of that in the limelight, in the news and stuff, and I don't think we need to bring that to our children. They need a little bit of time to grow up.”

When it comes to the library’s collection, there are about 70,000 books available covering a wide variety of topics. Meyerson said the librarians work hard to speak to people, find out what they are looking for and help them select the right book. Books about diverse experiences are frequently requested by people of all ages, which is why the library promotes them.

After the pandemic, the library began offering book bundles so kids and teens could continue to have access to library materials. Kids would sign up for the bundle they wanted to receive and then it would be delivered to their home or picked up curbside. One of these bundles included "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas.

“When we talk to people, we find out what they want to read and we help provide that,” Meyerson said. “(Bear Creek residents) were upset because 'The Hate U Give' was in one of our book bundles. But kids knew what the book was and they knew what it was about before they signed up for it. So they requested it."

Hoffman read "The Hate U Give" himself to find out what the library was encouraging teens to read and said he was shocked at what he found.

“It talks about gangbangers, there's drugs, it's anti-police, it's a very controversial book. And that is the one that Val is highlighting on her teens 13 and up staff pick,” Hoffman said.

“It is very anti-police, it's not very patriotic. I challenge anybody to read it and then say that a 13-year-old and up teenager should really read that book. I read the whole book and I was shocked. It's fictional, but it's a very, very nasty book and it really shouldn't be read by any teenager. That's my opinion, unless they pick it with a parent's permission. If parents want their kid to read it, then that's fine.”

Whether this issue will impact the library’s funding will become clear in 2024 when voters have the opportunity to renew the millage. So far, this discussion only appears to be happening in Bear Creek Township.

“I really do challenge these folks that are unhappy with what we're doing to come in and talk to us and get firsthand knowledge,” Meyerson said.

“Targeting one or two books is, in my mind, ludicrous. Because we have 70,000 books. You're not gonna like all of them. No one is. I don't like all of them, there's books that I'd rather not have. But I know somebody else might like it, so we get it and we provide that for other people.”

The minutes from the July 6 and Aug. 3 meetings are available through the township website.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Concerns voiced over LGBTQ+ content in Petoskey library