Augusta County residents expressed their displeasure with the board of supervisors for cancelling a pride day event during a meeting on Wednesday. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi talked to the board chair about the decision and filed this report.
The Augusta County Library had planned a "Pride Day" program at their Fishersville Location for June 16th. They advertised a name change station, arts and crafts, a photo booth, cookie swap, and an after-hours movie showing. But four days before the event, the library announced on Facebook that the county board of supervisors directed them to cancel it, to the immense disappointment of the staff.
At the board's next meeting on June 25th, amidst discussions of land use and stormwater drainage, six local residents spoke out against the cancellation.
SAMANTHA HUGHES: I've always been so, so proud to call Augusta County my home.
Samantha Hughes said she's a lifelong resident of the county.
HUGHES: If you feel confident and correct in your decision, then you should have said it with your whole chest. And the fact that you didn't simply tells me, and all others in Augusta County, that you knew what you were doing was wrong and was going to hurt your queer constituents.
Others, like Andrea Jackson, decried the lack of transparency around when, why, and how the decision was made.
ANDREA JACKSON: If you want to be bigots, be lawful bigots.
County resident Randall Wolf spoke about a FOIA request he made for communications about the decision, which yielded a handful of text messages. In one exchange, board member Pam Carter asks if the county's communications manager can craft a script for them to talk about the decision. Board Chair Gerald Garber responds, "My position at the moment is this is a personnel issue and therefore we can't discuss it. After all that is the truth."
I submitted a similar FOIA request on June 13th, for communications amongst board members or between board members and library staff concerning the cancellation, but was not given those text messages. After the meeting, I asked Garber for more context.
GERALD GARBER: I can make it very simple for you. If this was about the Palestinians, the outcome would have been the same. It appears to be about the pride event but it's not. When I say it's about the personnel, it's about personnel.
HAGI: Can you be any more specific about –
GARBER: That's pretty, that's pretty damn specific. It's about personnel.
Garber said that he talked to each of the other board members individually while making the decision. Board Vice-chair Butch Wells previously told the Augusta Free Press that he, as a retired police chief, was worried about someone coming to the library to "do something of a violent nature" or "create trouble" at the event. However, Garber did not cite safety concerns in the meeting or his comments to WMRA.
HAGI: So you don't feel it's inappropriate to have an LGBTQ event at the library?
GARBER: I don't have a problem with that.
What he did have a problem with was the movie the library had planned to show that evening.
HAGI: What was the title of the movie?
GARBER: Can't remember, something with "blood" in it, but their description, it was pretty violent. Their description. Actually, I was going to watch it, but it was going to cost me 10 bucks and I was too cheap.
HAGI: But that was part of the issue?
GARBER: A very large part of the issue.
HAGI: How – how does that square with the personnel, though? I'm just trying to understand –
GARBER: It squares with judgment.
HAGI: With judgment.
GARBER: Yes.
HAGI: Of the library staff?
GARBER: With whoever decided that was a good idea. If Parks and Rec wanted to have that kind of a movie when they show movies out at the park, there would be a lot of unhappiness all around.
HAGI: Did you ask the library staff to remove the movie?
GARBER: That's probably getting out in the weeds.
The movie in question was "Love Lies Bleeding," an R-rated thriller romance set in 1989 that centers on the relationship between a gym manager and a bodybuilder, both women. It was scheduled to be shown after the library's open hours.
Dr. Scott Seaton, who serves on the board, told WMRA he was informed of the decision after the fact by the county administrator while he was on vacation. He said, "People have the right to organize something that is decent. R-rated movies I would not consider appropriate in a library." Seaton also said the board has received more than 80 emails about the cancellation, about seven of which supported the decision.
Librarian Keith Bell, who organized the event, told WMRA he chose that movie because it was new, it was made by and about queer people, and it got good reviews. He said that on the morning of June 12th, County Administrator Tim Fitzgerald told him in a meeting that the movie was one of the supervisors' concerns with the event.
Bell said he offered to cancel the movie if need be, but was not asked to do so. After Fitzgerald's office told the library to cancel the event, Bell said he called and left messages for a few of the supervisors. He has not heard back, but is still willing to meet with them.
