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Library board will consider the future of drag queen story time

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The Lafayette Public Library’s Board of Control will consider the future of Drag Queen Story Time at the library.

Mayor-President Joel Robideaux says he’s urging his appointee on the board to have it canceled and other councilmembers may do the same.

“I had a number of emails and phone calls, text messages. I would say 97 percent were in opposition of it and about 3 percent were in support of it,” said William Theriot

Councilman Theriot says he’s against the “drag queen story time” saying that residents in his district have asked him to ask the library board to cancel the event.

“The biggest concern I’m hearing from the majority of the people is that they’re concerned. This is not about who is doing the reading this is about the 3 to 6-year-old children.

Mayor-PresidentJoel Robideaux and his statement opposing the event were targets of speakers supporting the event.

“I would ask the mayor parish president Joel Robideaux to withdraw his statement and apologize for it,” one speaker said.

Some speakers even criticized Robideaux for being absent for nearly 20 minutes of discussion. KATC asked Robideaux for an interview but he declined to comment.

Library Director Teresa Elberson says she’s now worried for the safety of her employees and library patrons.

“Imean its been a tough day listening and reading and talking to people on both sides. The board of control for the library has not made a decision but we already have some plans B, C, D, and E if it is cancelled, there’s other things we can do that maybe don’t involve drag queens or having it on a public space,” Elberson said.

Read more from the meeting here