The Montana State Library Commission voted Tuesday to leave the American Library Association, the oldest and largest library association in the world, because the ALA’s president described herself as a “Marxist lesbian” in a social media post last year.

Emily Drabinski, who was elected president of the ALA in April 2022 and took office this month, celebrated her election in a social media post that has since been deleted. 

“I just cannot believe that a Marxist lesbian who believes that collective power is possible to build and can be wielded for a better world is the president-elect of @ALALibrary,” Drabinksi wrote in a tweet last year. “I am so excited for what we will do together. Solidarity! And my mom is SO PROUD I love you mom.”

During a meeting Tuesday, Tom Burnett, a member of the Montana State Library Commission, made a motion to “immediately withdraw” the state library from the ALA and send the association a letter to explain that “our oath of office and resulting duty to the Constitution forbids association with an organization led by a Marxist,” according to the Montana Free Press.

In a statement published on its website Thursday, the ALA — a nonpartisan nonprofit founded in 1876 — outlined its mission, described how its presidents are elected and noted that ALA’s operational decisions are “made by ALA staff leadership working with a full range of committees and advisory groups.”

It also described how the Montana State Library has benefited from ALA membership, including more than $218,000 in program grants over the past two years and a 24% increase in federal funding from 2019 to 2023. 

“Despite the decision in Montana this week, ALA remains committed to providing essential support, resources, and opportunities for every library and library worker in every state and territory across the nation to help them better serve their communities,” the group said.

Drabinski did not immediately return a request for comment. 

After about an hour of public comment Tuesday, the commission voted 5-1-1 in favor of the motion. Commission Chair Peggy Taylor abstained, and Commissioner Brian Rossmann, the only active librarian on the commission, cast the one opposing vote. 

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Dana Gonzalez, who spoke in favor of withdrawing from the ALA, said the commission “ought not promote, celebrate or support what scripture condemns” and then quoted Bible scriptures that she said condemned what Drabinski wrote in her tweet, according to the Daily Montanan.

Bozeman parent Cheryl Tusken also spoke in favor of the motion. 

“I think this is a really good move to send a really clear signal to our national organizations that we are not in agreement with the direction they are taking these organizations,” Tusken said, according to the Montana Free Press.

Rossmann, who works at the Montana State University Library, said the ALA presidency is “largely a ceremonial role,” the Montana Free Press reported. 

Susan Gregory, the director of the Bozeman Public Library, spoke in opposition to the measure. In her 40 years of involvement with the ALA, she said, she has never seen the organization provide a program or presentation about Marxism.

“We don’t leave the United States because we don’t like or agree with whomever the sitting President of the United States is,” Gregory said in a written statement to the commission. “I hope that the Montana State Library Commission will understand the critical importance of remaining in our professional association so that we know what is happening in the world, our country and neighboring states to improve public libraries.”

Last year, the Montana State Library Commission voted down a proposed logo that used rainbow colors because some members said it didn’t clearly convey the library’s work. During debate over the logo, multiple members who ultimately voted against it said it looked too similar to the LGBTQ Pride flag, the Montana Free Press reported. The commission subsequently adopted an alternate logowith an updated color scheme. 

The commission’s actions are examples of a larger trend of libraries being pulled into the national debate over what information children can access freely at school or in libraries — particularly when that information includes LGBTQ people or themes. 

Conservative advocacy groups and some elected officials have painted LGBTQ books and content in schools as “grooming,” using a decades-old false moral panic about LGBTQ people. 

In the last few years, parents and local conservative advocacy groups have started asking for certain books to be removed completely from schools and public libraries. In its annual book censorship report, the ALA found that there was a 75% increase in the number of challenges against books between 2021 and 2022. 

Of the 13 books that made the ALA’s “Most Challenged Books” list in 2022, seven — more than half — were challenged for having LGBTQ content.