▸ The gist: The library’s board president resigned under the mayor-president’s scrutiny, social conservatives have filed a petition, fringe national headlines have continued to percolate and we’re not even in September yet. As of this writing, Drag Queen Story Time is still scheduled at the Lafayette Public Library for Oct. 6, but the drama is ongoing.
▸ Robideaux is not messing around with his library investigation. A key issue in the backlash against the event is the library’s promotion of Drag Queen Story Time in its monthly brochure. The mayor-president said in a statement last week that he wanted to get to the bottom of how the library approves official programming. And he followed through, delivering an aggressive and thorough list of questions to his appointee on the board of control, Joseph Gordon-Wiltz, who also happens to be the assistant council clerk. Gordon-Wiltz tendered his resignation shortly thereafter. Here’s what the mayor-president asked for:
- A list of requested programs that were denied since January 2016
- Any and all correspondence of Board members and Library Staff regarding a Drag Queen Storytime program
- Any and all documentation on files related to Drag Queen Storytime program.
- Any subject-matter “filters” placed on computers used in the Libraries and who makes that decision.
This is a substantial inquiry. Robideaux clearly wants answers.
▸ Social conservatives are seething. Facebook page Lafayette Citizens Against Taxes has circulated a petition via its sister organization Citizens for a New Louisiana asking supporters to register their displeasure with library staff and the City-Parish Council. “While the incessant call for one defeated tax election after another has been disheartening, the use of taxpayer funds to promote sexual deviancy to three-year-olds was and still is shocking,” the template language reads. Meanwhile, a fringe West Virginia pastor — d.b.a. Warriors for Christ — has mounted his own campaign against the event, threatening a lawsuit and an on-site protest.
A Drag Queen Story Time event in Mobile, Ala., has generated similar uproar. News of the mayor-president’s push to cancel Lafayette’s event and Gordon-Wiltz’s resignation has popped up in out-of-state headlines.
▸ Lafayette, Ind., trolled us. A misfired tweet from a Drag Queen Story Time supporter landed on the tweetdeck of West Lafayette, Ind., which took the opportunity to promote its culture of inclusion. Here’s how the other Lafayette’s director of communications explained it in the city’s paper of record, The Journal & Courier:
“OUTFest was just held this past week, and there I personally saw Mayor Tony Roswarski and Mayor John Dennis, as well as Rep. Sheila Klinker, speaking about basic human rights, and how the community comes together to tackle these hard issues,” [Communications Director Patty] Payne said. “Every one of those individuals has supported basic human rights since the beginning, and when people come to the city asking for things like this, we try to respond with respect and inclusion.”
▸ Strange bedfellows: Robideaux has not been popular among anti-tax conservatives, particularly LCAT, which fought the vote for the mayor-president’s CREATE initiative and has remained a steadfast critic of his administration. His foray into a strident and explosive controversy bucks the mayor-president’s tendency to avoid flare-ups, and it’s unclear if this will win him many permanent fans. No doubt he has his eye on next year’s re-election campaign. Between Drag Queens and LUS, Robideaux has kicked up a lot of rocks over the past couple of months. Whether they break him or simply bruise him won’t be known till 2019.