Rachel Homolak speaks at the May 30 and June 12 St. Charles County Council meetings about the attire of an employee at a St. Charles City-County Library branch. The council appoints some members of the board that oversees the library. Edited by Beth O'Malley, video courtesy of SCCMOTV
ST. PETERS — More than 350 people crowded into a St. Charles County library board meeting Tuesday night in the latest escalation in a fight over a library employee’s wardrobe.
The contentious meeting, which featured three hours of public comment, centered on a woman’s complaint that when she visited a branch of the St. Charles City-County Library, an unnamed worker was wearing makeup, nail polish and a goatee. LGBTQ supporters were swift to push back on the woman’s complaints, and they showed up in droves Tuesday night to counter complaints by the woman and her supporters.
“This attire is really only publicly tolerated in adult settings such as nightclubs and strip joints,” said Rachel Homolak, the mother who lodged the initial complaint in May. Descriptions of the library employee’s attire have escalated since then, and on Tuesday it was described by Homolak and others as a “leather corset, fishnet stockings, and four-inch stilettos.”
Tuesday’s meeting was the latest example of culture wars brewing in the Ƶ area and across Missouri. Other recent points of contention have included access to gender-affirming care, school curricula, and books in school libraries.
More than 50 people spoke at Tuesday’s meeting, and an additional 30-plus people signed up to speak, but the library board opted to end the public comment period after three hours. Others who want to file comments in writing can send emails to the board, according to library board president Staci Alvarez.
Sadie Anderson, who described themselves as being the partner of the library staff member, urged the library board to continue to support the employee.
“My partner is having to do something that no person on earth should have to do, they are having to fight for their mere right to exist,” Anderson said. “My partner, myself, and every single person in this room should be able to express themselves and feel comfortable in the clothing they choose and wear those clothes without fear of ridicule. It is as simple as that.”
The meeting, held at the St. Peters branch of the library, on Spencer Road, was packed long before it began. Among the attendees was Cate Epperson, a longtime county resident who came to the meeting to show support for the library employee.
“It is unconscionable that people are wanting to silence another person’s ability to express themselves through the clothes that they wear,” Epperson said. She, along with others, said that if Homolak was offended by the library employee’s attire that she should simply choose to go to another of the library system’s 10 branches.
Some other attendees said they were surprised by how the community has reacted to Homolak’s concerns about the library employee.
“I think (Homolak) was being a tempest in a teapot,” said Virginia Baldwin, of St. Charles. Baldwin, who also spoke at the meeting, said she believed part of the reason that Homolak’s criticisms against the library system have gained such notoriety is that “libraries are in the crosshairs of our politicians, and this is another portal for them to achieve their objectivities of attacking them.”
In the meeting, Homolak’s comments were met with near-instant boos and complaints from supporters of the staff member, many of whom attended the meeting wearing “Ally” stickers and waving flags in support of the gay and transgender communities. The loudest cheers and jeers of the night came following comments from Francis Howell School Board member Jane Puszkar and Mark McCloskey, a conservative firebrand who first rose to prominence after waving guns at racial justice protestors in 2020 and ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate last year.
Puszkar questioned the motives of the library employee, accusing them of “wanting to harm our children by exposing them to things they don’t understand, and can’t understand, until they are old enough to process.” The response from the crowd was loud enough that board president Staci Alvarez had to pause the meeting.
“You may not agree with what they have to say, but I would expect you to show respect to anybody who comes up to the podium,” Alvarez said.
Puszkar also called for the library’s CEO Jason Kuhl to be fired and for County Executive Steve Ehlmann’s ability to appoint library board members be terminated. Those calls were echoed by others at the meeting, including one woman who said that she was concerned that publicly identifying herself in a news story would result in her being labeled as “hateful” or “bigoted” because she opposes the LGBTQ community due to her religion.
Other contentious moments involved the usage of Bible verses. Both supporters and critics of Homolak quoted or referred to various passages from the Old Testament and New Testament throughout the night. One passage from Matthew 18:6 was cited repeatedly and thought to be especially controversial, because it represented a “veiled death threat toward the employee,” according to one audience member.
The verse suggests that anyone who causes a believer of Jesus Christ to “fall into sin,” should have “a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”
When it came time for McCloskey to speak, a significant portion of the meeting room emptied as St. Charles County residents protested him being given the chance to speak even though he is a resident of Ƶ.
He accused the library of attempting to “indoctrinate” children. He also alleged that the library system had books that equated to “child pornography” that “would land any adult in prison for reading.” He did not mention any specific book titles in his remarks.
Several other speakers took aim at the LGBTQ-related books and materials included in the library system’s collection. One man, who declined to give his name, said the LGBTQ-related books were “smut being peddled to children” and that such materials needed to have a “sexually explicit sticker” placed on the front cover. The books, he said, should then be regulated to a “corner of the library, blocked off from the public, and have a staff member only allowing access to them by citizens that were 18 years old.”
While he did not mention specific book titles in his comments, he did specifically mention the newly imposed rule from Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft for public libraries that would block state funding for libraries if they allow minors to access books that are pornographic or labeled as obscene under state statutes. It also requires written collection policies and a way for a parent or guardian to challenge the books.
“Please follow the rule as it is written,” said the man, who also criticized Kuhl for having a “woke agenda.” He pledged that he along with “every last parent and friend” in St. Charles County would soon be in the libraries to ensure in search of these books and to file formal challenges with the library board over their age appropriateness.
Another woman, who spoke during the public comment period, said the inclusion of LGBTQ-related books and displays of LGBTQ-friendly materials were “confusing for children.”
“Knowing too much about adult stuff can be paralyzing for a child,” the woman said. She requested that the library board remove all displays related to Pride month for the LGBTQ community.
Others who attended the meeting defended the presence of the LGBTQ-books and materials, saying the books offered them insights into different people’s lives and perspectives. Some speakers equated the outcry of the LGBTQ books to the backlash that occurred in the 1960s over the inclusion of books by Black authors.
Some speakers alleged that critics of LGBTQ-related books were overblowing the impact these books would have on children.
“My son has watched hours of ‘PAW Patrol’ and he is yet to think that a dog is going to talk to him,” said Harry Harris, who described the meeting’s public comment period as a “three-ring circus.”
“I can tell you that I’ve got 99 problems in my life and the work of a librarian is not one of them,” Harris said.
Following the conclusion of the public comment period, fewer than 20 people stayed in the meeting room to witness the library board approve its multimillion-dollar budget and finalize the acquisition of property on Highway K in O’Fallon for $412,000.
Photos: Cultures clash over perceptions of gender and appearance of St. Charles library employees
Hundreds attend St. Charles City-County Library Board meeting
Hundreds attend St. Charles City-County Library Board meeting
Hundreds attend St. Charles City-County Library Board meeting
Hundreds attend St. Charles City-County Library Board meeting
Hundreds attend St. Charles City-County Library Board meeting
Hundreds attend St. Charles City-County Library Board meeting
Hundreds attend St. Charles City-County Library Board meeting
Hundreds attend St. Charles City-County Library Board meeting
Hundreds attend St. Charles City-County Library Board meeting
Protest over gender at St. Charles City-County Library Spencer Road Branch
Protest over gender at St. Charles City-County Library Spencer Road Branch
Protest over gender at St. Charles City-County Library Spencer Road Branch
Protest over gender at St. Charles City-County Library Spencer Road Branch
Protesters outside St. Charles county library oppose, support worker wearing goatee and makeup
Protest over gender at St. Charles City-County Library Spencer Road Branch
Protest over gender at St. Charles City-County Library Spencer Road Branch
Protest over gender at St. Charles City-County Library Spencer Road Branch
Protest over gender at St. Charles City-County Library
St. Charles library employee Danny Roberson sues critics, including Rachel Homolak and Grace Church STL, for defamation and conspiracy.
Rachel Homolak, center, places her hand over her heart before reciting the Pledge of Alligance at the St. Charles City-County Library Board meeting on Tuesday, June 20, 2023, at the Spencer Road Branch in St. Peters. Hundreds of patrons attended the meeting, voicing their opinions to the board about implementing a "neutral dress code” after Homolak objected to seeing what she described as a man wearing makeup at the children's desk at another branch library location. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com
"I refuse to be bullied back into the closet," said Daniel Davidson, who spoke in support of a library employee who wore makeup during the public comment portion of the St. Charles City-County Library Board meeting on Tuesday, June 20, 2023, at the Spencer Road Branch in St. Peters.
The Board of Trustees listen to the public comment portion of the St. Charles City-County Library Board meeting on Tuesday, June 20, 2023, at the Spencer Road Branch in St. Peters. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com
Jamie Martin protests the phrasing of Francis Howell School Board member's Jane Puszkar's conservative comments during the public comment portion of the St. Charles City-County Library Board on Tuesday, June 20, 2023, at the Spencer Road Branch in St. Peters. Hundreds of patrons attended the meeting to voice their opinions to the board about implementing a “neutral dress code” after conservative mom Rachel Homolak objected to seeing what she described as a man wearing makeup at the children's desk at another branch library.
Conservative supporters clap as Mark McCloskey engages with LGBTQ+ supporters as he walks back to his seat after speaking during the public portion comment during a St. Charles City-County Library Board meeting on Tuesday, June 20, 2023, at the Spencer Road Branch in St. Peters.