Maine library sparks outcry after stocking book titled ‘Irreversible Damage’ about ‘the transgender craze seducing our daughters’, with one local warning it could cause a SUICIDE
A library in Maine found itself at the center of controversy after stocking a book against “the transgender craze,” with one local warning that it could lead to suicide.
Rich Boulet, the director of the Blue Hill Public Library, was working the front desk when a customer asked to donate a book.
When they handed it over, he saw the title: âIrreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughtersâ by journalist Abigail Shrier.
âIf I’m completely honest, my heart sank when I saw it,â Boulet told the newspaper New York Times.
The book posits that gender dysphoria is a “diagnostic fad” fueled by social media and peer influence, confusing teens’ desire to transition.
The Blue Hill Public Library in Maine became embroiled in controversy after deciding to stock a book condemning the ‘transgender craze’
Rich Boulet, the library’s director, said he wanted the library to be “for everyone, not just people who share my voting record.”
The book in question â âIrreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughtersâ by Wall Street Journal writer Abigail Shrier â has faced extensive public criticism
âI want the library to be for everyone, not just for people who share my voting record,â Boulet said. That’s why he chose to shelve the book, a decision supported by library staff.
âI felt like it filled a gap in our collection of a lot of material on that subject,â Boulet explained.
The move was intended to serve Blue Hill’s politically diverse community of nearly 3,000 residents. President Joe Biden won the city by 35 points in 2020, but voters are not overwhelmingly leaning left.
In 2014, 39.1 percent of voters were registered as Democrats, compared to the 26.9 percent registered as Republicans.
Boulet later wrote in an open letter to the local newspaper that the library welcomes everyone, “not just your or my part of the community.”
His decision to stock the book was divisive. Less than a week after it went on display, the parent of a transgender adult approached it and said she found it harmful.
The woman, who had known Boulet for years, calmly expressed her opinion before filing a reconsideration request asking that the book be kept “under the desk” and made available only upon request.
However, the library’s collection committee voted unanimously against her wishes.
Blue Hill is a small town with almost 3,000 inhabitants. President Joe Biden won there by 35 points in 2020, but the city does not lean overwhelmingly to the left
Boulet’s decision to shelve ‘Irreversible Damage’ was supported by other members of the library staff
Less than a week after the book was exhibited, a client requested that it be kept ‘under the desk’ and only made available upon request. The library’s collection committee voted against
In the weeks that followed, Boulet was constantly confronted, even in the supermarket and the post office, outside the walls of the library.
One person told Boulet that if a transgender youth reads the book and commits suicide, “it’s on you.”
Perhaps the most scathing criticism came from a former friend of Boulet, who labeled the library’s decision to distribute the book as “hate speech.”
The library director defended his decision on Facebook in a now-deleted post on the library’s public page.
He also wrote a letter to the American Library Association requesting a public letter of support, which it offers to libraries facing censorship.
âThey ghosted me,â he said.
Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, said the request had sparked debate within the organization.
‘Our position on the book is that it should remain in the collection; it is beneath us to adopt the tools of censorship,â she said. Months later, Caldwell-Stone ran into Boulet at a conference and apologized.
Boulet told the New York Times that he started meeting critics at the grocery store and the post office. One patron told him that if a transgender youth committed suicide after reading the book, “that’s on you.”
He wrote a letter to the American Library Association requesting a public letter of support, but the organization did not accept his request
Shrier, an opinion columnist for the Wall Street Journal, came under fire after her work was published in 2020.
âA generation of girls is at risk,â one online listing claims, adding that the book âwill help you understand what the trans craze is and how to inoculate your child against it â or how to steer her off this dangerous path.â
Although the book received a number of positive reviews â and currently has a glowing 4.8-star rating on Amazon â critics criticized the author’s use of anecdotes as evidence.
In November 2020, Target stopped selling the book after online backlash, but made it available for purchase a day later.
The following year, petitioners demanded that the Halifax Public Library system withdraw their two copies of the book from circulation. The library refused, arguing that removal would constitute censorship.
Shrier turned to X, formerly Twitter, in response to the New York Times article decrying the âsuppressionâ of her dissertation by the mainstream media.
âThe NYT is willing to publish this now because it has decided to recognize detransitioners and the harms of gender medicine in children,â she wrote.
âIRREVERSIBLE DAMAGE was published in 2020. Thanks to its suppression by the MSM, tens of thousands of additional families were harmed.â