Idaho Republicans urge libraries to cut ties with group led by ‘Marxist lesbian’ from Boise

Hard-right Republican lawmakers Monday called for Idaho libraries to cut ties with a national nonprofit over the sexual orientation and political views of its president, a Boise native who identifies as lesbian and Marxist.

The Idaho Freedom Caucus, a coalition of 13 lawmakers co-chaired by Sen. Tammy Nichols, R-Middleton, and Rep. Heather Scott, R-Blanchard, urged the Idaho Commission for Libraries and all of the state’s public libraries to withdraw from the American Library Association (ALA).

The ALA, a Chicago-based nonprofit that advocates for public libraries, provides training to librarians and helps libraries secure grant funding. It’s unclear how many Idaho librarians are involved with the group, but the Idaho Commission for Libraries, which develops libraries across the state and assists local libraries with programs and services, is not an ALA member.

The lawmakers cited a more than one-year-old tweet from ALA president Emily Drabinski, a Boise High School graduate and librarian at the City University of New York. Drabinski was elected president of the ALA in April 2022.

After winning the election, Drabinski tweeted, “I just cannot believe that a Marxist lesbian who believes that collective power is possible to build and can be wielded for a better world is the president-elect of” the ALA. The tweet has since been deleted.

“We have significant concerns about the election of Emily Drabinski, a self-described ‘Marxist lesbian,’ as the next president of the ALA,” a news release from the Freedom Caucus said. “Her election raises issues about libraries’ involvement in exposing children to explicit materials and injecting hard-left politics and sexuality into publicly funded libraries.”

Maria Nate, Idaho director for the State Freedom Caucus Network, the umbrella organization for the Idaho Freedom Caucus, also pointed to Drabinski’s “body of work,” which includes an academic study on using “queer theory” to improve library classification systems for LGBTQ+ patrons.

Drabinski could not be reached for comment.

Idaho Commission for Libraries not an ALA member

The calls to disaffiliate from the group follow the Montana State Library Commission’s decision last week to cut ties with the ALA because of the tweet. The Montana Library Association, Montana’s state law librarian and public library directors in Bozeman and Missoula opposed the move, according to public comments posted online.

Idaho Republicans in recent years have sought to limit material available in libraries, part of a nationwide trend that’s focused on opposition to LGBTQ+ content. Previous proposals would have made librarians and public libraries liable to crimes or civil penalties for allowing children to access books considered “harmful,” which included content about homosexuality.

After the Montana decision, the Idaho Freedom Foundation, a libertarian lobbying group, urged similar action in Idaho. All 13 members of the Idaho Freedom Caucus were among the highest scores in IFF’s legislator scorecard this session, and also voted to support House Bill 314, which the IFF heavily lobbied for. It would have let the guardian of a child who was able to obtain “harmful” material from a library to claim $2,500 in statutory damages for each instance the material was obtained.

“It’s time for the Idaho Commission for Libraries to follow Montana’s decision to end its membership with the ALA,” Anna Miller, director of the Freedom Foundation’s Center for American Education, wrote in a blog post.

But the Idaho Commission for Libraries doesn’t have an ALA membership, and doesn’t receive funds from the group, Idaho State Librarian Stephanie Bailey-White told the Idaho Statesman. Commission staff members pay for their own memberships to the association if they choose to join the group, Bailey-White said by email.

“Information provided from ALA communication channels along with other sources of information available in the free marketplace of ideas is vetted through our ability to think critically and apply that information through an Idaho-based lens,” she said. “The staff at the Idaho Commission for Libraries and public and school libraries in the state work hard to meet the needs of Idahoans on a daily basis. They do not have an agenda.”

When asked whether there’s evidence tying the Idaho Commission for Libraries to the ALA, Nate pointed to payments posted on Transparent Idaho, the state’s online spending database. The commission spent $970 with the ALA last fiscal year, according to the database.

Those transactions funded four Idaho Commission for Libraries employees to attend professional development conferences organized by the ALA last fiscal year, Deputy State Librarian Dylan Baker said.

“These national conferences provide significant continuing education and networking opportunities with other library professionals and vendors that provide products and services to libraries,” Baker said by email.