Floyd County Library hosts debate on LGBTQ children’s book read at story time event

FLOYDS KNOBS, Ind. (WAVE) - Dozens of people showed up to the Floyd County Library on Monday night to discuss a children’s book featuring a same-sex marriage that was read during a recent story time event.

Last week, the library’s Galena branch hosted a reading of “Prince & Knight,” written by Daniel Haack and illustrated by Stevie Lewis.

The children’s book tells the story of a male prince whose family is attempting to arrange a marriage to a female princess. A male knight protects the prince during a dragon attack, and the two fall in love and get married.

During Monday night’s Board of Trustees meeting, several members of the community spoke out in support of the book being read for being inclusive to members of the LGBTQ community.

“Why the objection, given of course that same-sex couples of course occur in our community,” one community member said during the debate. “To remove the story itself is a disservice to the people of the community.”

Other speakers said they would have preferred to be notified the book was going to be read and asked the library to post the book 24 hours before the story time event to know whether or not to pull their children from the reading.

“This is not about censorship, this is about parental rights,” another resident said. “A parent has the right to choose, or the guardian has the right to choose what their small children hear, read, watch on TV or the school they attend.”

No decision was made on the book during Monday night’s meeting.