Wyoming library director fired amid book dispute wins $700,000 settlement
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — A former Wyoming library director who was fired amid an uproar over sexually explicit and LGBTQ+-themed books that some people complained were inappropriate for teens and wanted the books removed from youth shelves will be paid $700,000 after a lawsuit was resolved.
Terri Lesley was fired as director of the library system in northeastern Wyoming’s Campbell County in 2023, two years after a book dispute at the library in Gillette. Lesley filed a lawsuit over her termination last spring and reached a settlement with district officials on Wednesday.
“I feel vindicated. It’s been a hard road, but I will never regret defending the First Amendment,” Lesley said.
Campbell County, a major coal mining area in the high plains of the West, is among the most conservative counties in one of the most conservative states.
In her federal lawsuit against Campbell County, including its commission and library board, Lesley alleged that public officials there sided with those objecting to the book and violated Lesley’s First Amendment rights.
The district denied Lesley’s allegations. Court documents suggested that only Lesley’s performance (and not the dispute over the books) played a role in the district’s dismissal.
Patrick Holscher, a private practice attorney hired by the county for the case, and County Attorney Nathan Henkes did not immediately respond to phone messages seeking comment Wednesday.
Books challenged in Gillette include Juno Dawson’s “This Book Is Gay,” Anna Fiske’s “How to Make a Baby,” Hannah Witton’s “Doing It,” Corey Silverberg’s “Sex is a Funny Word” and Andrew P. Smiler’s “Dating and Sex: A Guide for the 21st Century Teen Boy.”
“We hope that at the very least it sends a message to other library districts, other states and other counties that the First Amendment remains alive and strong and our values against discrimination remain alive and strong,” said Iris Halpern, Lesley’s attorney. “These are public institutions, government officials, they need to keep their constitutional obligations in mind.”
Halpern and his Denver firm Rathod Mohamedbhai supported fired library staff elsewhere in recent years. Under the settlement agreement, Lesley is withdrawing her lawsuit, but a separate lawsuit against three people who objected to the books will continue.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency tasked with enforcing discrimination laws, authorized the lawsuit against county officials based on an earlier EEOC complaint filed by Lesley.
