A group of Michigan fascists has succeeded in pushing a ballot referendum to cancel a tax levy that would fund the local library because they were upset that the library stocked books on LGBTQ culture and sexuality that are geared toward adolescents, WZZM ABC-13 in Grand Rapids reports.

By a 1,905 to 1,142 margin, Jamestown Township voted to cancel a property millage that was dedicated to funding the Patmos Library.  A group of activists fought against the budget item, which provided 80% of the budget for the library in the town of around 8,600.

What started the backlash?  A display of books covering LGBTQ issues, including “Gender Queer: A Memoir,” written by American cartoonist and author Maia Kobabe, who uses non-binary Spivak pronouns and who details eir struggles with gender and sexual identity.  (“Eir” is a gender-neutral possessive Spivak pronoun.) The award-winning book has been praised for providing a first-person view of the process of gender- and sexual-self-discovery.

The fascists, however, claimed that merely having the book and others like it available for loan from a public library was “grooming children for sexual exploitation” to be non-straight and non-binary, because having information available is a dangerous thing, they believe. 

The fascist group had tried to get the library to remove books that it found offensive–because they are, after all, the only true arbiters of what is Right and True–but the library refused.  The fascists then went to the township council to demand the books be removed, but they too stood against fascism.  So the group decided to put a referendum on the ballot.

Their actions will prevent the library from being funded for the 2023 fiscal year, meaning the entire library will be shut down within 18 months unless another millage proposal is passed or if the library finds other sources to fill its quarter million dollar budget.