DENVER — The people trying to ban books are more active in Colorado than in any neighboring state. According to the American Library Association (ALA) 136 books were challenged in Colorado in the first eight months of 2023. Rex Fuller, CEO of LGBTQ+ resource provider the Center on Colfax, has been keeping an eye on it.
"In some ways I feel the debate is really new and different and that it’s so specifically focused on school boards and so specifically focused around education," Fuller said. "But what a lot of it has reminded me of is what we experienced in the 80s around the AIDS crisis, and a lot of the prejudice and misinformation that came out during that time, and was really promoted in a lot of misguided legislation that happened across the country."
In the first eight months of 2023, the ALA said more than 3,900 books were challenged in the United States. Eleven different states had more than 100 books challenged, including Colorado.
"I think the current challenges to LGBT related materials, such as books being available, makes it really important for us to make our library accessible to community members," Fuller said.
The Center on Colfax reopened the Terry Mangan Memorial Library less than a month ago. It's a free library with over 2,000 LGBTQ books, magazines and journals. It's a space Fuller said is needed now more than ever.
"It's still important to be able to preserve books and other materials so they're available for future generations," he added.
Colorado law may protect a lot of things, but bookshelves are not one of them. Fuller hopes the new year brings a better understanding of literature.
"Those [banned books] are some of the books that are some of the most important for people to have access to try and overcome these negative outcomes of depression and feelings of isolation," Fuller explained. "That, for many members of the LGBT community, is live saving."
The grant to revamp the library came from the National Trust for Historic Preservation. That funding helped build an online archive of oral histories from the pioneers of the Denver LGBTQ+ community.
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