By Gretchen Webster
WESTPORT — Nearly 50 residents recently sent a letter to Westport Library and town officials complaining that a book, “Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters,” was not approved for the library’s collection.
“By taking this position, the Westport Library is engaging in political censorship in blatant violation of the Library Bill of Rights … This is unacceptable and most likely unlawful,” according to the June 29 letter, which was signed by 46 people and addressed to “the Executive Director and Trustees of the Westport Library and elected officials of the Town of Westport.”
“Misinformation” cited by library panel
The library’s response, cited in the residents’ letter, said the book, by Abigail Shrier, was rejected because it both omitted information and included misinformation about scientific studies regarding the topic of transgender sexuality.
“The [library] purchasing committee has decided not to purchase the book due to the mixed reviews. … The book reviews talk about omitted information and misinformation from some of the results of the studies the author cites in the book. Because we could not trust the information in the book it was decided not to add it to the collection,” the Westport Library’s purchasing committee said in its decision to reject the request.
The book, published in 2020, discusses “educators and therapists who push life-changing interventions on young girls,” according to a description posted on the Barnes & Noble website.
“A generation of girls is at risk. Abigail Shrier’s essential book will help you understand what the trans craze is and how you can inoculate your child against it — or how to retrieve her from this dangerous path,” the description continues.
The book is published by Regnery Publishing, which publishes “Conservative Books For Independent Thinkers,” according to the company’s website.
TEAM Westport members critical
The letter upset several members of TEAM Westport, the town’s advisory committee on inclusivity issues, who met last Thursday.
Lee Goldstein, chairwoman of the Board of Education, was among those who joined TEAM’s online meeting, and said she is concerned about how Westport educators are being “attacked in this way.” She referred to parental criticism of a bearded woman depicted in a film shown to schoolchildren, who was a character in “The Greatest Showman,” a movie about circus entrepreneur P.T. Barnum.
“No teacher goes to work to be attacked in this way,” Goldstein said. “It’s chilling. It will affect the work that people want to do and I worry about that.”
Selectwoman Candace Savin, who also attended the TEAM Westport meeting, said she is concerned by what she called “a cultural war” over materials used to teach children in Westport schools. Now, she said, the library appears to have become a target for similar criticism. “The same group seems to be creating controversy on purpose,” she said.
TEAM Chairman Harold Bailey Jr. added that he feels school-focused controversies over critical race theory and sexuality issues, and now the library’s book collection, are damaging.
“We really have to be careful that we don’t let this take hold and metastasize,” he said.
Library director reviewing appeal
The Westport Library has posted its policy on acceptance or rejection of materials outlined on its website, according to William Harmer, library director.
Part of the appeals process, when a patron disagrees with the library’s decision, calls for the director to evaluate the material, as well as the library purchasing committee’s decision to accept or reject a book submitted for the collection.
That’s what he’s doing now, Harmer said Friday.
“I do a lot of review on the title in question and review the professional literature. I also have to read the book,” he said. The library’s policy allows 30 days for a decision to be appealed, he said.
New titles are recommended by library patrons every day, Harmer added, but there are not enough resources to purchase every material that is requested. “We’re not an archive,” he said. “The library already has 60 different materials on this particular topic.”
Harmer stressed, however, the library’s mission is to present “a well-rounded collection that reflects different points of view.”
He plans to send the letter writers a written response to their complaint, he said.
Harmer said he does not personally know the letter writers, although some names are familiar, including spouses of several Board of Education members, the library director said.
Among others who signed the letter is Planning and Zoning Commission member Amie Tesler Bentley.
Alessandra Gordonos, a biologist who teaches at the college level, was the main signatory on the letter, with 45 others signing below her name.
“As a scientist, a Westport taxpayer and an American citizen, I am deeply disturbed by this response to my request and feel a moral obligation to make my objections known,” she wrote about the decision to reject the book.
Gordonos called on the library director, the library’s Board of Trustees, the Representative Town Meeting, the RTM’s Library, Museum and Arts Committee and First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker to support adding the title to the library collection.
Gretchen Webster is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to Westport Journal. Learn more about us here.
The full letter to the Westport Library appears below:
Is this the same (previously anonymous) Concerned Westport Parents group that thinks CRT is being taught in our schools? At least they identified themselves by signing the letter!
Here’s a link to the Psychology Today review of the book.:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/checkpoints/202101/review-irreversible-damage-abigail-shrier
Here’s a different link you might be interested in, looks like this is an issue for rational Democrats, too: https://connecticutcentinal.com/democrats-are-also-upset-with-westport-library-censorship-and-bias/
This is silly. I signed the letter, and would proudly do it again. This is an essential book for our library; it is a well-researched and factually-grounded survey and analysis of a topic that exceedingly few critics of influence have the courage to handle fairly and impartially. If you believe that “Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria” is a perfectly normal thing in the life of a teenage girl, which requires no questioning or innate skepticism, you are flat-out delusional. You’ve simply been had. I also gather from the article that some people around town (or, I grant, the writer of the article) are conflating 1) the letter itself criticizing the library’s prior censorship of a specific book on a specific topic and 2) parental input on the content of specific subject matter taught within our town’s public schools.
I just noticed that one of the signatories is also one of the people who threatened to sue town over the make-up of the TEAM Westport advisory committee. Clearly, Westport Republicans have too much time on their hands.
I guess (as to this article) I’m curious as to how widespread the problem of “Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria” is in Westport that the signatories consider it to be a “craze.” One? Ten? One hundred cases? Who do they think is “seducing” the daughters of Westport? The phrasing alone echoes the kind of homophobic sentiments that come from people claiming that members of the LGBTQ+ community want to “recruit” others to their ‘team.’ I would suggest that the delusional ones are those who are clutching their pearls over the likes of this.
I’m also a signatory to the letter. I haven’t read Irreversible Damage and quite frankly, I probably won’t, I just don’t have the time. I signed the letter because I feel very strongly that there are two sides to this (and most) issues and the library should not be at liberty to censor EITHER side. I would back that sentiment regardless of whether I agreed or disagreed with the topic. If anyone took the time to read the letter, they would see it is about partisan censorship and not the substance of the book.
The irony that so many who object to the library not having this book are the same as those dictating what our schools teach or not teach. One would almost think they may in fact be the ones promoting party politics. But I’m glad they’ve all gone on the record for free speech and against censorship.