A man in Beachwood, Ohio — a city 20 miles southeast of Cleveland — checked out 100 books about Jewish history, African-American history, and LGBTQ+ education from the Cuyahoga County Public Library (CCPL) and then allegedly burned the books in a video posted to social media. His actions coincide with Republican nationwide attempts to eradicate public information about queer and minority communities.
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The man in question reportedly went to the CCPL’s Beachwood Library branch on April 2 and applied for a library card. He then checked out 50 books.
The following day, the Princeton University Bridging Divides Initiative (PUBDI), a group that monitors social media for hate crimes, told the CCPL that the man had posted a photo on social media showing the books alongside a caption about “cleansing” the libraries, Cleveland.com reported. The books had CCPL stickers on them.
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The man then posted a video to social media in which he burned the 100 books, many of which matched the themes and titles of those he had checked out.
The library says it hasn’t charged the man for the books as they are not yet overdue. If he doesn’t pay for the books, the city prosecutor could pursue the charge as a civil matter. If the man returns to the library, he could be banned from the premises.
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“I have no idea how many lives will be lost because of this, but I am sure that there will be excess mortality and excess suffering, mentally and physically,” Nancy Krieger, a social epidemiologist at Harvard University, told NPR. “For all the critique that’s being made of the concerns about inclusivity, inclusivity increased who was represented and visible in the data, never took anybody away.”
Republican politicians and small conservative “parents’ rights” groups have also successfully removed school library books with LGBTQ+, Jewish, racial, and gendered themes under policies against “obscenity.” In some cases, the books’ authors and publishers have sued to have the books returned to shelves, arguing that their removal violates students’ access to different viewpoints and silences authors’ rights to free speech.
* Original Article:
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/05/man-burns-100-lgbtq-black-jewish-library-books-on-social-media-video/