A library in Maine found itself at the center of controversy after stocking a book against the “transgender trend,” with a local authority warning that it could trigger suicide.
Rich Boulet, director of the Blue Hill Public Library, was working the front desk when a patron asked to donate a book.
When they handed it to him, he saw the title: “Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters” by journalist Abigail Shrier.
“If I’m being completely honest, my heart sank when I saw it,” Boulet told the New York Times.
The book hypothesizes that gender dysphoria is promoted by social media and peer influence, resulting from teenagers' desire to transition into confusion.
The Blue Hill Public Library in Maine found itself in controversy after it decided to stock a book denouncing the “transgender trend.”
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 – “Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters” by Wall Street Journal author Abigail Shrier – was heavily criticized by the public
“I want the library to be for everyone, not just people who share my voting record,” Boulet said. So he decided to shelve the book, a decision supported by library staff.
“I felt like it filled a gap in our collection of a lot of materials on this topic,” 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 its voters do not lean overwhelmingly left.
In 2014, 39.1 percent of voters were registered as Democrats, compared to 26.9 percent as Republicans.
Boulet later wrote in an open letter to the local newspaper that the library welcomes everyone, “not just your part of the community or mine.”
His decision to stock the book proved controversial. Less than a week after the exhibition, the mother of a transgender adult approached him and said she found it harmful.
The woman, who had known Boulet for years, calmly expressed her opinion before filling out a reconsideration application, asking that the book be kept “under the desk” and made available only upon request.
However, the library's collections committee voted unanimously against her request.
Blue Hill is a small town with a population of almost 3,000. President Joe Biden won there by 35 points in 2020, but the city doesn't lean overwhelmingly left
Boulet's decision to shelve “Irreversible Damage” was supported by other library staff
Less than a week after the book went on display, a customer asked that it be kept “under the desk” and made available only upon request. The library's collections committee voted against it
In the weeks that followed, Boulet was constantly confronted, even at the grocery store and the post office, beyond the library walls.
One person told Boulet that if a transgender youth read the book and committed suicide, “that's on you.”
Perhaps the most damning criticism came from a former friend of Boulet's, who called the library's decision to publish the book “hate speech.”
The library director defended his decision on Facebook in a now-deleted post on the library's public page.
He also wrote to the American Library Association asking for a public letter of support that it offers to libraries affected by censorship.
“They ghosted me,” he said.
Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the ALA's Office of Intellectual Freedom, said the motion sparked debate within the organization.
“Our position on the book is that it should remain in the collection; “It is beneath our dignity to adopt the tools of censorship,” she said. Months later, Caldwell-Stone met Boulet at a conference and apologized.
Boulet told the New York Times that he encountered critics at the grocery store and at the post office. A patron told him that if a transgender youth committed suicide after reading the book, it would be his fault.
He wrote to the American Library Association asking for a public letter of support, but the organization did not respond to his request
Shrier, an opinion columnist for The Wall Street Journal, came under fire after her work was published in 2020.
“A generation of girls is at risk,” says one online list, adding that the book “will help you understand what the trans craze is and how to vaccinate your child against it — or how to “We can free ourselves from this dangerous path.”
While the book received some positive reviews – and currently has a glowing 4.8-star rating on Amazon – critics criticized the author's use of anecdotes as evidence.
In November 2020, Target stopped selling the book due to an online uprising, but made it available for purchase a day later.
The following year, the petitioners asked the Halifax Public Library system to remove their two copies of the book from circulation. The library refused on the grounds that the removal amounted to censorship.
In response to the New York Times article, Shrier took to X, formerly of Twitter, to complain about the mainstream media's “suppression” of her thesis.
“The NYT is ready to publish this now because it has decided to recognize detransitioners and the harms of pediatric gender medicine,” she wrote.
IRREVERSIBLE DAMAGE was released in 2020. Thanks to his repression by the MSM, tens of thousands more families have been harmed.”