The Alpena County Library became the center of a heated controversy when some residents objected to a set of youth and teen books dealing with sex education and LGBTQ themes. Titles like It’s Perfectly Normal and All Boys Aren’t Blue were flagged as inappropriate, leading county commissioners to accuse the library of failing to protect children. In 2024, commissioners even voted to begin the process of firing the entire library board and some opponents launched a “Vote NO on Library Grooming” campaign to defund the library when the library millage was up for renewal.

 

Library leaders defended the collection, citing professional standards and First Amendment protections, and the Michigan Library Association and EveryLibrary publicly supported them. Despite the political pressure, voters approved a library millage renewal in August 2024, ensuring continued funding. By late 2024, tensions eased: the commissioners backed away from firing the board, opting instead for gradual replacements, and the library introduced a new “Browse Method” that groups books by subject with clear labels, making it easier for parents to monitor what their children access. Unfortunately, commissioners appointed Julie Byrnes to the library board, a leader of the “Vote NO on Library Grooming” campaign, along with Traci Collins, whose husband, Joe Collins, is pastor of Shoreline Wesleyan and Huron Shores Fellowship churches, who were instrumental in organizing a petition to remove the books in question from the collection. SAFE is committed to the continued monitoring of the library board to ensure our First Amendment rights are not violated.