This story was reported with support from the
MuckRock foundation
.
 
Around this time last year, Rachel Rodman was happily employed as a library clerk and program assistant with the Crawford County Library District in the east-central part of Missouri. Rodman didn’t think anything of the display she curated for Pride month last June, highlighting LGBTQ+ books from the district’s collection in the one room library within a community center. Rodman says she was given free reign to create displays and had no reason to suspect that her actions would lead to her firing. The display was up for five days before Rodman says her branch manager left her a handwritten note telling her to remove it. Rodman refused, posting to
Facebook on June 5, 2025
that she wouldn’t deny a marginalized group’s right to visibility because the district feared community backlash. 
“I take my job very seriously,” Rodman wrote, adding, “I will not yield, and I’m not sorry about it.” 
The next day, she was fired. Public records obtained by 404 Media offer insight into Rodman’s dismissal and how the decision reflected poorly on the library. It represents one of hundreds of public records requests filed in jurisdictions in which we’ve received a tip or followed up on incidents of censorship and self-censorship related to LGBTQ+ focused or Pride-related book displays. Records from a handful of public libraries show a willingness from library leadership to tolerate acts of self-censorship in anticipation of unwanted attention from certain community members, and in some cases, religious leaders. This tends to show up in hesitancy to organize cultural heritage programming and LGBTQ+ book displays. 
In a statement to 404 Media, Rodman says that because public libraries are funded through taxpayer dollars, reducing visibility of a marginalized group constitutes a refusal to openly support all patrons. 
“It’s never enough to just carry the books as available material,” Rodman told 404 Media. “Everyone d

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