Adrianne Peterson, the manager of the Rancho Peñasquitos branch of the San Diego Public Library, was surprised when two local residents checked out nearly all the books in her modest Pride Month display and refused to return them unless the library removed what they considered "inappropriate content."
The New York Times (via Yahoo! News):
"It was just kind of like, 'Whoa, curveball,'" Peterson said. "I began to wonder, 'Oh, have I been misunderstanding our community?'"
Soon, she would get her answer: Stacks of Amazon boxes containing new copies of the books the protesters checked out started to arrive at the library after The San Diego Union-Tribune reported on the protest. Roughly 180 people, mostly San Diegans, gave more than $15,000 to the library system, which after a city match will provide more than $30,000 toward more LGBTQ-themed materials and programming, including an expansion of the system's already popular drag queen story hours.
Take that, intolerance; this community chooses to celebrate diversity and love.
The checked out books have since been returned.
