ZIONSVILLE — Two competing petitions are circulating in Zionsville — one calling for the local library to remove certain books from the children’s section, and another urging the library to continue promoting inclusivity.
The Zionsville Men of Truth say books that share stories about being transgender or part of the LGBTQ community are inappropriate for children.
"When themes like gender identity or sexual identity are presented to young children, it creates a lot of confusion in their minds,” David Story, the founder of the Zionsville Men of Truth group, said.
The Christian organization was established following the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The group plans to present its petition to the library board on Thursday. It will also ask the board to never allow for Drag Queen Story Hour, which they describe as sexually explicit and not appropriate for children.
Story said the group does not want to ban the books entirely.
"In the petition, we make it clear we are not trying to get these books removed from the library, just moved into the adult section where a 6-year-old won't just run and grab it and take it off the shelf,” Story said.
When other residents learned of the Men of Truth’s petition, some began publicly supporting the library’s inclusive programming and started their own opposing petition.
"Our library has been wonderful about representing all kinds of diverse voices and stories. I don't ever feel like it has been pushed,” Aubrey Able, president of the Zionsville Pride Board, said.
Able owns The Curious Squirrel Bookshop, which sells what she calls books from “underrepresented voices,” including works written by queer authors. She feels the effort to move the books amounts to censorship and could harm people who are part of the queer community.
"There is a certain set of standards that they believe are moral standards that they are trying to impose on everybody, and that is not what the library is or what the library does,” Able said. “Parents already have the right to decide what their child takes out of the library."
Both petitions will be presented at the board meeting on November 20. The Men of Truth hope the board will be persuaded to adopt their proposals, while others in the community hope the library will maintain what they call its legacy of inclusivity.
