Metro Detroit gayborhood Ferndale doesn't shy away from displays of LGBTQ+ pride during the month of June and beyond.
But for the first time this year, the Ferndale Area District Library was targeted by a bigoted campaign against LGBTQ+ books.
On Sunday, June 4, the Ferndale library’s youth and young adult Pride Month displays were completely emptied of their books, and several other LGBTQ+ titles were subjected to simultaneous checkouts.
It's part of the nationwide “Hide the Pride” campaign, which was launched by the ultra-conservative group CatholicVote in 2022. It calls for supporters to identify queer books in library Pride displays and then check them out of the library so young readers can't access them.
Assistant Director of the Ferndale Area District Library Jordan Wright tells Metro Times the books on display were replaced with “religious materials.”
“Additionally, many of our other LGBTQ titles, specifically focused on trans topics or with trans characters were pulled from the shelves,” Wright says. “There are lists circulating online that are often used by these people.”
CatholicVote’s hateful rhetoric includes messaging like “It’s June! Do you see rainbow-trans-BLM flags everywhere? Including in your public, taxpayer-funded spaces? We do. And we are meeting the challenge head on.”
CatholicVote Vice President Joshua Mercer praised the two Ferndale residents who allegedly checked out the books in an article published on the organization's website.
"There’s been a wonderful grassroots effort by parents to 'Hide the Pride' and protect children from harmful filth in our public libraries,” Mercer said. “You would think this groundswell of opposition by parents would make librarians think twice about having these nasty X-rated books that are targeting our children.”
Some of the titles that were taken include A Queer History of the United States for Young People, The Transgender Child: Revised & Updated Edition: A Handbook for Parents and Professionals Supporting Transgender and Nonbinary Children, and So This is After Ever.
Melissa (previously George) by Alex Gino, which is about a young transgender girl, was also checked out. Melissa is a frequently banned LGBTQ+ book.
CatholicVote instructs people doing Hide the Pride runs to return the books after the checkout period ends. However, the Ferndale library immediately purchased replacements for all the titles taken. It also launched a successful crowdfunding campaign to buy backup copies in case something like this happens again.
In a strange flex, CatholicVote identifies the Ferndale residents who emptied the Pride display as Debra T. and Nick S. and makes fun of the library for replacing the books.
“In Ferndale, Michigan, they are sadly doubling down and begging people to go to Amazon so they can restock the shelves with smut for kids...Bizarre,” CatholicVote's Mercer said.
Uproar over books deemed “inappropriate” for young readers, usually involving LGBTQ+ characters and subjects of color, isn’t a new phenomenon, but anti-LGBTQ+ sentiments have reared their ugly heads across metro Detroit recently.
Last year the Dearborn Public School District removed at least two LGBTQ+ books from school libraries following the demands of outraged parents and community members who flooded several school board meetings.
On Tuesday, the city of Hamtramck's all-Muslim council banned Pride flags from being displayed on city property. In March, three Michigan coffee shops closed temporarily after receiving threatening anti-LGBTQ+ letters.
Wright says the Ferndale Area District Library hasn’t had any issues with the Pride display before and will continue to champion diversity.
“People come into libraries and don’t understand that we’re here for everybody," Wright says. “I was a youth services librarian for almost 10 years and representation, particularly LGBTQ people in books, generally has improved so much. That representation is important and everybody needs to see themselves in materials in the library."
Metro Times called the Royal Oak Public Library, Sterling Heights Public Library, and Dearborn’s Henry Ford Centennial Library, and none reported any issues or complaints around Pride Month displays. The Detroit Public Library also confirmed there has been no pushback at any of its branches.
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