A Wyoming librarian whose fight against book censorship led to her losing her job has prevailed in court.
Terri Lesley was fired as director of Campbell County Public Library in Gillette in 2023 amid an uproar over books with sexual content and LGBTQ+ themes that some in the community wanted removed from library shelves. The books 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 sued over her termination, filing a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the Campbell County Commission and the Campbell County Public Library Board that alleged her employers discriminated and retaliated against her because of her support of the LGBTQ+ community. The two-year ordeal ended on October 8 when the commission and the library board settled with Lesley for $700,000.
Lesley claimed in her federal lawsuit against Campbell County, including its commission and library board, that public officials in the county sided with the book objectors and violated her First Amendment rights. The county denied the claims, arguing that Lesley’s performance—not the dispute over the books—played a role in her dismissal. Under the settlement agreement, Lesley is dropping her lawsuit, though a separate lawsuit she has filed against three individuals who contested the books will continue. Campbell County Public Library System has not admitted to any of the allegations.
“I do feel vindicated,” Lesley told the Associated Press. “It’s been a rough road, but I will never regret standing up for the First Amendment.”
“We hope at least that it sends a message to other library districts, other states, other counties, that the First Amendment is alive and strong and that our values against discrimination also remain alive and strong,” said Lesley’s attorney, Iris Halpern. “These are public entities, they’re government officials, they need to keep in mind their constitutional obligations.”
The settlement is the culmination of a years-long struggle to defend the freedom to read for Lesley.
In 2021, the number of book challenges at Campbell County Public Library rose tenfold. Library board meetings became contentious, and there were repeated protests outside the library. In October 2021, two patrons who led the challenges went to the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office to attempt to prosecute librarians, including Lesley, for violating child sex laws based on five books they described as “hard-core pornography to children.”
In 2022, the American Library Association gave Lesley its John Phillip Immroth Memorial Award which honors “personal courage in defense of freedom of expression.”
Lesley said the award was a balm at a time when she was facing a barrage of negativity, including allegations she was peddling child pornography.
“It’s been a key factor in helping me to keep going,” she told the CBC. “I felt like I was going forward with something that people really cared about and that they appreciated that I’d taken a stand.”
Become a Supporter
Subscribe to the I Love Libraries newsletter! You’ll get news from the library world, advocacy updates, author interviews, book lists, and more delivered to your inbox every month.
Photo courtesy of Terri Lesley.
