Wyoming library director fired amid outcry over books with LGBTQ+ themes wins $700,000 settlement

A former Wyoming library director who was fired amid an outcry over books with sexual content and LGBTQ+ themes that some people complained were inappropriate for young people and who called for them to be removed from children’s shelves will receive $700,000 after settling a lawsuit.

Terri Lesley was fired from her position as director of the library system in Campbell County, northeast Wyoming, in 2023, two years after the book dispute began at the Gillette library. Lesley filed a lawsuit last spring over her termination and reached a settlement with county officials Wednesday. She had been the director since 2012 and had worked at the library for 27 years, Wyoming Public Radio reported.

“I feel vindicated. It’s been a difficult road, but I will never regret standing up for the First Amendment,” Lesley said.

A major coal mining area of ​​the Western High Plains, Campbell County is among the most conservative areas of one of the most conservative states.

Public officials sided with opponents of the book and violated Lesley’s First Amendment rights, Lesley claimed in her federal lawsuit against Campbell County, including its library commission and board.

“Defendants continually subjected Ms. Lesley to a hostile work environment and ultimately terminated her because she refused to remove books that a narrow subset of residents objected to for their LGBTQ+ themes and because she engaged, welcomed, and did not discriminate against LGBTQ+ people in access to (the library and its services),” the initial complaint alleges.

The county denied Lesley’s claims. Only Lesley’s performance — not the books dispute — played a role in her firing, the county argued in court documents.

A private practice attorney hired by the county for the lawsuit, Patrick Holscher, and County Attorney Nathan Henkes did not immediately respond to phone messages Wednesday seeking comment.

The books challenged in Gillette included “This Book is Gay” by Juno Dawson, “How Do You Make a Baby” by Anna Fiske, “Doing It” by Hannah Witton, “Sex is a Funny Word” by Corey Silverberg and “Dating and Sex: A Guide for the 21st Century Teen Boy” by Andrew P. Smiler.

Lesley previously criticized the board for not being transparent about the books they wanted her to remove, Wyoming Public Radio reported.

“The board flatly refused to tell me which books they thought should be moved, even after I questioned them. They put the burden entirely on me and not them,” Lesley said, according to Wyoming Public Radio. “They are the ultimate authority on everything that happens at the library.”

“We hope at least it sends a message to other library districts, to other states, to other counties, that the First Amendment is alive and strong and that our anti-discrimination values ​​remain alive and strong as well,” said Lesley’s attorney, Iris Halpern. “They’re public entities, they’re government officials, they have to keep in mind their constitutional obligations.”

Halpern and his company, Rathod Mohamedbhai in Denver, have supported library workers laid off elsewhere in recent years. Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Lesley drops her lawsuit, although a separate lawsuit she filed against three people who challenged the books will continue.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency responsible for enforcing discrimination laws, authorized the filing of a complaint against county officials based on an earlier EEOC complaint filed by Lesley.