The former director of a Wyoming library has been awarded $700,000 after she was fired for refusing to remove LGBTQ+ books.

Former director of the Campbell County Public Library, Terri Lesley, agreed to drop her lawsuit after she was removed from her position in 2023.

After nearly three decades working within the library system the Campbell County library board voted to dismiss Lesley after she refused to remove books containing LGBTQ+ themes or information on sexual health.

“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,” solicitor Iris Halpen said in a statement.

“These are public entities, they’re government officials, they need to keep in mind their constitutional obligations.”

While Lesley has agreed to drop her lawsuit against the county, a separate lawsuit she filed against three individuals who challenged the books remains ongoing.

“I do feel vindicated,” she told the Associated Press. “It’s been a rough road, but I will never regret standing up for the First Amendment.”

In 2022, the county’s library board voted to leave the American Library Association, which helps support libraries in the US, as well as the Wyoming Library Association.

Shortly following the decision, it pledged to ban books including This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson, How Do You Make a Baby by Anna Fiske, Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, and Sex is a Funny Word by Corey Silverberg.

The bans also involved books related to sexual health, such as Dating and Sex: A Guide for the 21st Century Teen Boy by Andrew P Smiler.

Book bans have become increasingly prevalent in the US, particularly across red states. Between 2024 and 2025, an estimated 6870 book bans were present across 23 states affecting nearly 4000 unique titles.

In August, a federal judge partially struck down legislation banning LGBTQ+ books from public libraries and school districts in Florida.

The bill, sponsored by GOP official Stan McClain, targeted “books deemed pornographic or describing sexual conduct.”

However, district court judge Carlos Mendoza argued in a ruling opinion that “none of these books are obscene” and that the state’s restrictions are “unreasonable.”

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