On library flap, pull the trigger and move on

It would seem that few would demand more culture war showdowns, but that’s exactly what folks got Monday at City Hall.

Not the actual City Council meeting, which proceeded in a typically brisk fashion. But the public comment period and the spectacle outside erupted with all of the venom that’s come to define the era of social media.

All for an issue that’s usually about as mundane as the approval of the previous meeting’s minutes: a reappointment to the St. Joseph Library Board.

Members of this board are not above criticism. Even today, there are those who felt that the St. Joseph Public Library’s drag queen story hour in 2019 went too far. In hindsight, it proved to be a divisive sideshow that wasn’t essential to the core mission.

You could say that nobody was hurt, so just get over it. But you also could watch the fallout for the library system — a beloved institution for many of us — and detect a faint echo of what Anheuser-Busch learned the hard way. Know your audience.

(You could also say that the other library system came to a different decision and seems to be no worse for that).

The council has a right to not reappoint someone to a particular board, but usually that’s done for a specific reason like failure to show up, lack of transparency or poor decisions — especially decisions involving public money. As a matter of policy, the public has a right to request that the library exhibit restraint on explosive issues, such as teaching children about drag queens and transgender issues, that are best left for adults.

The problem here is the lack of specificity about what merits a particular board member’s ouster. There are rumblings that Brian Kirk, the board member in question, is too closely aligned with the LGBTQ community and therefore doesn’t take a broad view on library issues. However hard you try to spin it, this is troubling rhetoric that makes the campaign seem to be less about what he’s done and more about who he is.

Even if you disagree with the library board on a particular issue, the possibility that someone might make a disagreeable decision because of who he is does not justify removal from a public board.

The council seems to be taking a deliberative approach on this one, but what the community needs is decisive action rather than a prolonged battle over identity politics. Based on what we’ve heard so far, the best course of action is to reappoint Kirk and move on to more pressing issues.