A Wyoming library official who was fired over refusing to remove certain children’s books has won a $700,000 legal settlement.
“Terri Lesley, who served as executive director of the Campbell County Public Library System in Gillette, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in April 2025 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming alleging she was unlawfully fired in July 2023 for refusing to remove or relocate books with LGBTQ content from the library’s youth sections,” Fox News reported.
She accused the library board, Campbell County, and its Board of Commissioners of discrimination, retaliation and conspiracy, alleging her civil and constitutional rights had been violated.
“The Campbell County Commissioner’s Office told Fox News Digital a $700,000 settlement was reached through mediation by the county’s insurance company’s attorney. The attorney said no public funds were involved in the payment. They also said the settlement does not constitute an admission of liability and was a practical decision to avoid the substantial legal costs of a federal trial,” Fox News reported.
Some of the books in the center of the controversy included “This Book is Gay” by Juno Dawson, “How Do You Make a Baby” by Anna Fiske, “Doing It” by Hannah Witton, “Sex is a Funny Word” by Corey Silverberg, and “Dating and Sex: A Guide for the 21st Century Teen Boy” by Andrew P. Smiler.
According to the lawsuit, Lesley had maintained at public library board meetings that to remove the books from the children’s section of the library amounted to censorship and was “in violation of the First Amendment.”
“Defendants continually subjected Ms. Lesley to a hostile work environment and ultimately terminated her because she refused to remove the books that a narrow subset of residents challenged for their LGBTQ+ themes and because she engaged with, welcomed, and did not discriminate against LGBTQ+ individuals in access to [the library and its services],” read part of the original complaint.
The county maintained that it was a performance issue that led to Lesley’s firing and not the book dispute.
Lesley’s attorney, Iris Halpern, hopes the settlement sends a “message.”
“We hope at least that it sends a message to other library districts, other states, other counties, that the First Amendment is alive and strong and that our values against discrimination also remain alive and strong,” she said. “These are public entities, they’re government officials, they need to keep in mind their constitutional obligations.”
“I do feel vindicated,” Lesley told The Associated Press. “It’s been a rough road, but I will never regret standing up for the First Amendment.”
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.
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