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[M]andated silence on the topic seems antithetical to what libraries are about. Libraries are for learning stuff, and displays don’t have to take sides. That’s why I say proponents and opponents of gay rights alike ought to agree that the county blew it, in a big, bad, awful way. The real divide here is between those fond of vibrant democratic debate and those opposed to it. So I’d let the library mount a display airing all sides of the dispute. Indeed, I’d encourage them to. Precisely because there is ongoing controversy about gay rights, and because we think (don’t we?) that both sides have legitimate views, no reasonable observer would take a library exhibit’s inclusion of critics of gay rights as silently scornful. The county’s measure makes it seem like they think the very topic of gay pride is unspeakable, indecent — something that must remain deeply closeted. That position, and not any measured view on gay marriage or civil unions or antidiscrimination laws, is reprehensible.

Discussions were intense and substantive (most of the time), but there was a surprising tendency in this session for the Councilors not to worry about straying from “Library Issues”. In fact, I don’t recall hearing that term : “This is not a Library issue.” even once from the floor of Council during the whole of this Conference. There was a clearer connection in the minds of Councilors — at least in my own mind — how the manipulation, destruction and spinning of information can result in wars, ecological disasters and other calamities that were previously thought best to be left to the “experts” who supposedly run our government on our behalf. Librarians who believe in the value and importance of access to accurate and truthful information may come to view government actions predicated upon an endless tapestry of lies and misinformation, to be a matter relevant to their professional concerns. Instead of a “leftward tilt” on Council evident, I detected more of a realization that what you don’t know — or aren’t allowed to know — can literally kill you and a lot of other folks as well.