Library board members refused to ban a book about a trans boy. The county fired them all.
In December 2025 – shortly after North Carolina’s Asheboro Public Library board voted to keep Call Me Max, a children’s picture book about a transgender boy, on its shelves – the Randolph County Board of Commissioners dismissed eight out of nine library trustees without giving a reason. Betty Jo Armfield, one of the dismissed, was shocked. “I felt frustration, anger, and grave concern for the library staff and for the public that accesses the library,” she told LGBTQ Nation. For Armfield, what stung most was not just the dismissal itself, but what it signaled about the future. “This dismissal has set a […]