Resources
Timeline
To understand the potential future for our library, it's important to understand the past.
This timeline is a work in progress. Documenting the nearly decade of attacks and policy changes at LPL is an enormous undertaking. Please be patient with us as we complete this project.
Citizens for a New Louisiana, a 501(c)(4) organization, files articles of incorporation with the state of Louisiana two weeks before a planned library millage renewal in Lafayette. Its Executive Director, Michael Lunsford, claims the organization was created to promote "transparency in local government."
After Citizens for a New Louisiana Spends $21,000 on ads in a single week, Lafayette voters fail to renew a 1.6 Mill Property tax by a margin of 646 votes, costing LPL $3.6 Million per year. Citizens is later investigated by the Louisiana Board of Ethics for the timing of their formation/funding/ad buy, but is cleared after the board rules no donor disclosure was required.
A Drag Queen Storytime Event is planned at LPL with Delta Lambda Phi Fraternity. While organizers & supporters tout the program as a way to educate children about diversity and acceptance, conservative leaders denounce it as "inappropriate" and call for a review of all library programming. Library board President Joseph Gordon-Wiltz says he has no plans to intervene.
Amid the ongoing controversy surrounding Drag Queen Storytime, as well as public records requests filed by M-P Joel Robideaux on library programming and filters on library computers, LPL Board of Control President and Robideaux appointee Joseph Gordon-Wiltz resigns.
Future LPL Board President Robert Judge protests DQST at the September meeting of the library board. Stating he believes DQST programs promote "gender fluidity" and "transgenderism," he speaks until his time is up; his supporters shout that he should be allowed to continue.
Warriors for Christ files lawsuit (mistakenly targeting Lafayette, IN) to stop DQST; in a deal, the library agrees to temporarily forbid DQST events. Local advocates sue and the lawsuit is dismissed.
M-P Joel Robideaux accuses library of misleading voters regarding construction millage passed in 2002. Teresa Elberson, LPL director, counters that Robideaux's understanding of the bond issue is incorrect.
Drag Queen Storytime is held successfully as a private event with police protection against the protestors gathered outside, including future board member Stephanie Armbruster (who holds up signs near the street alongside extremist group Tradition, Family, Property). The event is well attended by parents and children, and no other issues are reported.
Lafayette Mayor-President Joel Robideaux repeatedly calls for transferring $18 million from LPL's budget to fund road and drainage projects, citing, in particular, the recent purchase of furniture for the new West Regional Library. His request is rejected by the council twice, who instead elect to put the measure before voters.
After a request from the LPL Board of Control, the City-Parish Council votes to set aside $12 million dollars for library construction projects, including $8 million previously sought by Councilman Kenneth Boudreaux for a new Northeast Library, and $4 million for an expansion of the North Regional Library in Carencro.
Voters approve a plan to rededicate $10 million of the library’s fund balance to drainage & recreation. No accounting is ever made for how these funds are spent.
Armed with a new conservative majority, the library Board of Control begins by voting to change board bylaws, giving more power to the board President and increasing its direct control over the library director. You can read the details of the bylaws changes HERE.
Members also vote to reject a $2700 grant from LEH because "both sides" aren't represented by the discussion facilitators. A citizens' investigation reveals the origins of the board's actions.
At the same meeting, Stephanie Armbruster proposes ending LPL's reciprocal borrowing agreement through the Bayouland consortium, citing budgetary concerns. The board also rejects an expenditure of $2000 for voter and usage data from Gayle Analitics in anticipation of upcoming library millage elections.
Days after the board excoriates her over the handling of the voting rights grant, Director Teresa Elberson abruptly retires.
DQST Protester Robert Judge is appointed to the LPL Board of Control, over the objections of citizens who either call or testify at the meeting. At the hearing, Parish Councilman Josh Carlson states that the current board is attempting to make the library "apolitical."
Library advocates file lawsuit seeking to nullify Robert Judge’s appointment, alleging “Walking Quorum” between board members, parish council members, and Michael Lunsford. The suit is ultimately lost. The text messages in question are available HERE.
At his first board meeting, Robert Judge submits a motion to change the library’s mission statement, removing culture & recreation. In his proposal, Judge states that the library should eliminate "completely unnecessary" services, such as electric vehicle charging & musical instruments. Board tables his motion. You can see his proposed mission statement HERE.
At the June, 2021 Board of Control meeting, Hilda Edmond, Mayor Josh Guillory's board appointee, attempts to call an illegal Executive Session to discuss Pride Displays in libraries. After being told by board attorney Mike Hebert that such a meeting would be illegal, she instead refers to the displays as "controversial" and "political," saying they will interfere with the board's "progress."
Librarian Cara Chance speaks, stating, "It is in the librarian's code of ethics not to bow to censorship, not to allow one person or one group to dictate all of the information and to impose their view on the entire community."
At the same meeting, after a six-month search, LPL employee and interim director Danny Gillane is appointed library Director.
In one of his first interviews, Gillane states that he "wants people to understand the [Pride] displays are not to encourage multiple viewpoints but to make people aware of the various topics that can be found within a library."
At the July, 2021 regular board meeting, Robert Judge makes a motion to suspend Robert's Rules of Order to add changing the library's mission statement to the agenda. His motion is seconded by Stephanie Armbruster, but gets no other votes and fails.
At the same meeting, the board elects not to request the Parish Council 'roll forward' millages, which would maintain the library's current revenue levels.
Former City-Parish Councilman Kenneth Boudreaux, as well as the Lafayette chapter of the NAACP and state Senator Gerald Boudreaux, call for residents to vote NO on the upcoming library millage renewal due to lack of progress in building a new library for the Northeast side of the parish.
Using a list he obtained from hate group Mass Resistance, local blogger, DQST Protester, & C4NL Director Michael Lunsford announces his objection to several books in the LPL catalog, including Sex is a Funny Word, This Book is Gay, The V-Word: True Stories about First-Time Sex, Dating and Sex: A Guide for the 21st Century Teen Boy, Doing It Right: Making Smart, Safe, and Satisfying Choices About Sex, Doing It!: Let's Talk About Sex, and Gender Queer. He ultimately files reconsideration challenges for This Book is Gay and The V Word. He also admits to holding the books at his office for "review."
After a nomination from outgoing President Doug Palombo, DQST protester Robert Judge is elected President of the LPL Board of Control. Landon Boudreaux is elected Vice President.
At the same meeting, Palombo appoints members of a new Northeast Library Exploratory Committee, and charges them with soliciting community input as well as reviewing Requests for Proposals for the land purchase. Boudreaux is selected to chair the committee.
With a turnout of 13%, voters approve a renewal of the library's 1.84 mills tax, one of two remaining funding millages. The tax brings in approximately $4.1 million annually, or 38% of the library's budget. Failure would have resulted in the closing of several library branches.
After a committee of two librarians and one library board member recommend against the removal of This Book is Gay, Michael Lunsford requests an appeal of the ruling in an open library board meeting. Board members Robert Judge and Stephanie Armbruster both advocate and vote to completely ban the book from LPL. As a compromise, Director Danny Gillane offers to dismantle the library's entire teen non-fiction section, reshelving every book in the adult section. After hearing from more than thirty community members unanimously opposed to banning the book, the board agrees to Gillane's plan, voting 4-2 against removal. Lunsford declares victory anyway, stating, "I think that was a very exceptional compromise and I’m very pleased."
After Hilda Edmond retires, Josh Guillory appoints LCG budget analyst Shane Landers to the the library board.
David Pitre, retired Christian school administrator and uncle to Kevin Roberts, is appointed to fill the seat vacated by Adele Blue, whose term ends in January, 2022. As with Robert Judge, Pitre is nominated by Parish Councilman Josh Carlson, and joined in his vote by John Guilbeau and Bryan Tabor.
In light of the continuing attacks against the Lafayette Public Library system, a group of concerned citizens founds Lafayette Citizens Against Censorship.
On the recommendation of Director Danny Gillane, the library board votes unanimously to close all LPL branches on Sundays, beginning in March. According to Gillane, the move will save the library system $250,000 - $300,000 per year, and will pay for operations at the new Northeast Library.
At the February, 2022 board meeting, President Robert Judge introduces a motion to restrict library cards for minors 14 and younger, forcing parents to fill out permission forms to give their child full library access. The motion is tabled.
Also at the February 2022 meeting, Robert Judge introduces a motion to remove ALL librarians from materials reconsideration committees (book challenges). New board member David Pitre offers an alternative of two board members and one librarian, which the board approves with a vote of 4-3. The move effectively gives the board the power to ban books.
Board members Robert Judge, Stephanie Armbruster, and Landon Boudreaux hijack a vote to accept the RFPs submitted for the new NE library property, delaying progress on the project.
At the same meeting, board President Robert Judge has Lafayette Parish sheriff's deputies arrest local LGBTQ activist and Drag Queen Storytime advocate Matthew Humphrey for speaking out of turn. After documenting the arrest, a journalist with a valid press pass was also not allowed entry to the meeting.
In the first Reconsideration Committee meeting open to the public, members consider a request to ban the DVD Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood. The request, filed by patron Kathy Lafleur, states that her concerns are [the] "DVD has explicit sex of men having orgys (sp) and fornification (sp), masturbation which should not be in a library[.]" At the reconsideration hearing, Lafleur further explains, "When you're reading vulgarity in books, that's fine, but when you're watching something and you're seeing a clip of an actual video of this going on in a movie at a library, I just couldn't get over that."
The committee ultimately makes a motion not to move the DVD, and Lafleur vows to appeal to the full board. Michael Lunsford is in attendance, but does not speak.
Billed as a revenue generator for the library's strapped budget, the board votes 4-2 to begin charging out-of-parish patrons of Bayouland Consortium libraries $20 per year per card, even though the reciprocal borrowing agreement with member libraries has been in place since 1974. Library patrons again opposed the change.
After penning an opinion piece critical of board actions, Northeast Library Committee Member Lynette Mejía is removed by chair Landon Boudreaux for allegedly "disparaging or mischaracterizing sitting board members." Fearing that the move will have "a chilling effect on what kind of discourse that committee is allowed to have and the things those community members are allowed to say," Mejía vows to respond.
Halfway through his five-year term, former library board President Doug Palombo resigns.
After LPL Director Danny Gillane offers to restrict the previously unrated Scotty and the Secret History documentary to an adult-only checkout with an NC-17 rating, the full board votes unanimously to keep the title in the library's collection.
Tulane University Law School First Amendment Clinic sends a letter to the Board of Control and President Robert Judge, arguing that Mejía's dismissal from the NE Exploratory Committee was "retaliatory" and a clear violation of her First Amendment rights.
Moments before the May meeting of the NE Library Exploratory Committee, board President Robert Judge reinstates dismissed member Lynette Mejía.
In response to a board member complaint about possible upcoming Pride Displays at LPL, Director Danny Gillane preemptively bans ALL displays highlighting "populations," including Black History, Women's History, Cajun/Creole History, and Pride. Numerous civic leaders and organizations protest the change, and the controversy becomes national news. An online petition to restore the displays garners over 600 signatures.
Daniel Kelly, pastor of The Harvest Center Church, is appointed by the parish council to fill the remainder of the term vacated by Doug Palombo. Kelly, whose recent sermons include "The Deceiver: Abortion LGBT Agenda," is one of the signers on a letter by Lafayette pastors opposing Drag Queen Storytime.
After adjourning the June meeting, LBOC President Robert Judge announces the dissolution of the Northeast Exploratory Committee. One month later, when committee members question why they were not informed, he sends an email.
Robert Judge attempts to fire LPL librarian Cara Chance for "willful insubordination" related to a teen romance display. The legality of his actions is questioned.
Two days after the attempt to fire librarian Cara Chance, Library Board Vice President Landon Boudreaux resigns, citing school and job obligations.
After numerous complaints from citizens and months of controversy, the Lafayette Parish Council discusses the legality of removing a library board member.
In a clear violation of citizens' First Amendment rights, LBOC President Robert Judge imposes restrictions on speech at library board meetings. New policies include the posting of disturbing the peace statutes on meeting doors, armed sheriff's deputies flanking the board and facing speakers, as well as direct speech restrictions like a ban on "confrontational statements" and mentioning individual board members' names in public comments.
Erasto Padron, an IT specialist, is chosen to fill the library board seat vacated by Landon Boudreaux. Another candidate, professor Christie Maloyed of UL, is attacked in a blog post by Michael Lunsford of Citizens for a New Louisiana.
Robert Judge is reelected President of the LPL Board of Control, after a tie vote is broken by newly appointed member Erasto Padron.
A little over a year after he took the job, Director Danny Gillane announces his retirement. Later, it is revealed he has applied for the position of Director at the East Baton Rouge Parish Library, though he does not get the job. Less than a month later, he withdraws his resignation.
For her tireless work against censorship in libraries and her devotion to library patrons, Cara Chance is awarded the I Love My Librarian Award, an honor given annually to only 10 librarians throughout the United States. Almost simultaneously, she is suspended for 7 days without pay for alleged hostile workplace violations.
LBOC President Robert Judge orders two sheriff's deputies to remove Lafayette community member and library advocate Melanie Brevis from the January meeting during her public comments criticizing board members.
In a horrifying display, Robert Judge insults a grieving mother on LinkedIn by implying that her LGBTQ son's death by suicide was not a result of bullying but of an "immoral and unhealthy lifestyle." Later, it is revealed that local elected officials Josh Guillory and Ken Ritter discussed removing Judge from the library board as a result.
In accordance with Attorney General Jeff Landry's intention to pass legislation restricting library access, the LBOC votes to create a tiered card access system based off Landry's definition of sexually explicit content. Without the guidance of law, however, the newly passed card policy is confusing, and the chaotic meeting at which it was passed may have violated LA open meetings laws - again. At the suggestion of Josh Guillory appointee Marquise Watson, the cards are opt-in only.
After several months of continued First Amendment violations, as well as the unlawful removal during her public comments, library advocates Melanie Brevis and Lynette Mejía file a federal lawsuit against Lafayette Consolidated Government and Robert Judge.
Cara Chance successfully appeals her seven-day suspension without pay to the Lafayette Civil Service Board, who vote to reduce her penalty to a simple reprimand.
After years of complaints by LBOC President Robert Judge, as well as a subsequent request for information about their history, LPL Director Danny Gillane abruptly shuts down the electric vehicle chargers at West Regional Library, citing legality concerns.
Though the board had voted to move forward to purchase land for the new NE library over a year prior, Robert Judge once again discusses lease options and delays the board's vote to move forward on the project.
After the Mayor-President's latest library board appointee runs afoul of Robert Judge by helping to make his recently passed tiered card system opt-in only, Parish Councilman Josh Carlson introduces a new ordinance permanently removing the Mayor-President's appointment to the board.
After a patron complains about the book, Growing Up Inside and Out by Kira Vermond, library administration makes the decision to reclassify all Juvenile:Health:Mature books as Family (an adult designation), preventing checkout by restricted library cards.
At the same meeting during which the board votes to fire the library director, Robert Judge once again proposes a motion to lease a property for the new NE library instead of purchasing land. His motion fails, prompting the Parish Council to force Judge to call a special meeting in order to vote on the land purchase. Judge complies, then resigns. A petition to have Judge removed from the board entirely is circulated online, garnering over 600 signatures.
In an illegal and closed Executive session, four LPL Board members, led by Robert Judge, fire Director Danny Gillane for what Judge later claimed was "undermining the board." Gillane, stunned, immediately files suit. In a later interview, he reveals that he believes Robert Judge does not want the NE library built.
In a hastily called special meeting, library board members unanimously vote to rescind the termination of former Director Danny Gillane, allowing him to resign and keep his benefits. Sarah Monroe is appointed Interim Director.
In the wake of the scandal following the illegal firing of library Director Danny Gillane, Robert Judge steps down as President of the library board. However, he still remains a member of the board.
Citing "professional obligations," board member David Pitre resigns, but not before sending the remaining library board members the results of his "research" on the American Library Association.
At the regular September meeting the board elects James Thomas as interim President to replace Robert Judge, raising advocates' hopes that the years of chaos and dysfunction would be over.
With the support of Robert Judge, Daniel Kelly is elected President of the board. Stephanie Armbruster is elected Vice President.
Despite the appeals of over 50 citizens who called, wrote, or spoke in support of Christie Maloyed, the parish council appoints former youth minister Allan Moore to replace David Pitre, who resigned in August. In his speech before the council, Moore says he doesn't believe libraries should help push "the latest social agenda." Maloyed had previously been attacked by Michael Lunsford of Citizens for a New Louisiana.
In what appears to be an Open Meetings law violation, Robert Judge makes a motion to disaffiliate the Lafayette Public Library from the ALA, using a packet of photocopied "evidence" provided by David Pitre just before his resignation.