Wyoming library director fired amid book dispute wins $700,000 settlement

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FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — A former Wyoming library director who was fired amid an uproar over books with sexual content and LGBTQ+ themes that some people complained were inappropriate for youngsters and who sought their removal from youth shelves will be paid $700,000 after settling a lawsuit.

Terri Lesley was fired as the library system director in northeastern Wyoming's Campbell County in 2023, two years into the book dispute at the library in Gillette. Lesley sued last spring over her termination and reached the settlement with county officials Wednesday.

"I do feel vindicated. It’s been a rough road, but I will never regret standing up for the First Amendment,” Lesley said.

A major coal-mining area on the Western high plains, Campbell County is among the most conservative areas in one of the most conservative states.

Public officials there sided with the book objectors and violated Lesley's First Amendment rights, Lesley claimed in her federal lawsuit against Campbell County, including its commission and library board.

The county denied Lesley's claims. Only Lesley's performance — not the dispute over the books — played a role in her dismissal, the county argued in court documents.

A private-practice attorney hired by the county for the lawsuit, Patrick Holscher, and County Attorney Nathan Henkes didn't immediately return phone messages Wednesday seeking comment.

The books objected to in Gillette 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.

“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.”

Halpern and her firm, Rathod Mohamedbhai in Denver, have supported fired library employees elsewhere in recent years. 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.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency tasked with enforcing discrimination laws, allowed the lawsuit against the county officials to be filed based on an earlier EEOC complaint filed by Lesley.