LGBT compromise fails to satisfy

By John Labriola - Stung by the many months of criticism over their epic mishandling of LGBT propaganda displays in the county libraries, Citrus County leaders on Tuesday offered a "half a loaf" compromise that left local conservative parental rights advocates dissatisfied and looking forward to the next election.

County commissioners and two city councilmembers from Inverness and Crystal River were meeting in their capacity as the Library District Governing Body to appoint four members to the nine-member Library Advisory Board (LAB).

Residents packed the county commission chamber to urge county leaders to appoint citizens who reflect Citrus County's conservative values instead of the woke LGBT values pushed by most of the LAB's current members. 

In the end, county leaders agreed to reappoint conservative LAB member Elaine Kleid to a third term and to appoint local pastor Justin Strickland to an open seat on the LAB. But they also voted 6-1 to reappoint two liberal LAB incumbents: Lorraine Benefield and Ken Jones. 

That means liberals still have a supermajority on the LAB – with six liberals, two conservatives and one moderate, hardly representative of Citrus' overwhelmingly conservative electorate. 

Commissioner Diana Finegan, who favored replacing the two liberals with conservatives, cast the lone "No" vote.

"Everyone kept saying balance, and I would agree with balance. I think that maybe we don't have balance at this time," Finegan said.

The once little-noticed LAB began drawing intense public scrutiny after the library system's infamous June 2021 celebration of "LGBT Pride Month" featuring rainbow-flag-draped displays of books and slogans promoting sodomy and transgenderism. In a 7-2 vote last year, the LAB rejected a petition signed by over 1,000 residents opposing the LGBT propaganda displays. In deference to the LAB's vote, county commissioners voted NOT to ban LGBT displays when the issue came before them. Despite that vote, library administrators decided not to have an LGBT display in June 2022 in response to the public outcry.

The contentious debate was revived on Tuesday during two hours of public testimony as dozens of residents demanded the appointment of LAB members who would respect parents' rights to keep their children safe from LGBT propaganda.

"I want the right to teach my children about human sexuality. I don't want the school system or the library doing it," said Pastor Kevin Ballard of Calvary Chapel Inverness. "Keep the library a neutral place."

Several LGBT activists who showed up in defense of LGBT propaganda displays repeatedly accused Christian parents of "hate" for opposing LGBT grooming of their children. One resident, Rita Fox, who described herself as an agnostic Jew, viciously smeared Christian conservatives with the "Nazi" label. 

"It's not hate but love to let children be innocent," Rick Matherson of Hernando said in response to the smears. "Don't steal a child's innocence from them."

Following county leaders' vote on Tuesday, Mike O'Connell of Floral City expressed the crowd's dissatisfaction with commissioners' feeble attempt at compromise.

"Most of you claim to be conservatives, and I'm wondering why you compromise. Is it just because you can't make a good strong decision?" he said. "The next time election time comes around, we're going to remember this, because when I take my 7-year-old to the library, I want him to be safe. They put [the LGBT display] on hold. The people who are in favor of it are still going to be on this [advisory] board, and I find that unsatisfactory."

Sensing the crowd's irritation, newly elected County Commissioner Rebecca Bays forced Library Director Eric Head to go on the record regarding the library system's future plans for "LGBT Pride" displays. Head said that although existing policy still allows it, the library system has no plans to celebrate "LGBT Pride Month" this year due to the current sentiment. 

But Head won't be library director for much longer because he is being promoted to the position of Community Services Director next month, so the issue will never be conclusively resolved until commissioners have the courage to either appoint a majority of conservatives to the LAB or adopt a policy on their own that addresses this issue once and for all. Otherwise, a future library director could decide to bring back LGBT displays next year or sometime in the future, since nothing in existing policy prevents it from happening again.

Commissioners will have another shot at getting this right before the next election comes around in 2024, as another five LAB members' terms are set to expire in 12 months. 

The Citrus Crusader encourages residents to continue sharing their feedback with their elected officials by emailing them below.

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