We, the undersigned residents and parents of Homer and surrounding area, support the upholding of the City’s Collection Development policy and petition the Library Advisory Board to uphold the Library Director’s decision in full, leaving children’s books in the children’s library.

The Library's policy currently states: “Responsibility for the reading choices and information access by children rests with the parents and legal guardians, not the Library ….The Library encourages parents to be involved with their children’s reading and library use and will work with parents to find materials they deem appropriate for their children.”

Any decision to remove the selected books from the juvenile collection undermines the Library's policy for free access to information, including for minors: "Individual or group prejudice about a particular item or type of material in the collection may not preclude its use by others." Creating a special section for select children's books is violating policy and effectively isolating both the information contained in those books and the families who identify with the characters and themes in those books.

In addition, we the undersigned actively support the inclusion of LGBTQ+ representation in our children’s library as a reflection and celebration of the diverse community we live in, within a free nation.

In signing this I affirm that I meet all the following criteria:

1. I live in the Homer, Alaska area

2. I support the Library’s Collection Development policy which the Director is upholding and which supports parental rights and family choice.

3. I believe LGBTQ+ books for children are valuable and represent our community in a safe and meaningful way.