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To do list reminder to read a banned book, along with a pile of books frequently on censorship lists.
Matthew Humphrey has been exonerated three years after his wrongful arrest for speaking out against book bans during a local library board meeting.
An LGBTQ+ activist in Louisiana has been exonerated three years after his wrongful arrest for speaking out against book bans during a library board meeting.
Matthew Humphrey was charged with disturbing the peace through disruption of a lawful public assembly after he spoke out of turn at a 2022 Lafayette Library Board meeting by telling then-library board president Robert Judge, “You're being disingenuous.”
Humphrey was one of several community members who attended the meeting to protest the board's proposed ban of LGBTQ+ books. While he was not the only one to speak out of turn, he was the only one placed in handcuffs and escorted out, as seen on video via local station KLFY. Another attendee can be heard in the clip saying during Humphrey's arrest, “That’s uncalled for, that’s part of the Constitution. That is uncalled for.”
Humphrey missed his initial court date in June, 2023, telling the outlet at the time, “I don’t trust these people — I live in fear of my elected leaders and the people they put in power at the library.” He said he had initially disputed the charges, asserting that the sheriff’s office violated his constitutional rights, but an internal investigation from the sheriff’s office concluded that the deputy who arrested him did nothing wrong.
The activist was uncertain that his rights would be upheld, as he had issues with community leadership stemming back to 2018. The library had prevented Humphrey from organizing a drag queen story time event, prompting him to bring a lawsuit in defense of the program, which he won.
The charges against Humphrey were finally dismissed on Friday at his rescheduled court date, during which he presented 15th Judicial District Court Judge Royale Colbert with "six years’ worth of receipts of me paying attention to the viewpoint discrimination in this area of the local government against a gay man."
“He said, ‘I read every word of your testimony.’ That’s all he said to me,” Humphrey told KLFY. “Then, he turned to [Assistant District Attorney Chris Richard], and he said, ‘I don’t see where he disturbed the peace here. I don’t see where he committed a crime. And you said there’s evidence that you can’t produce. What are you doing with this case?'”
Humphrey recalled Colbert saying that if Richard continued with the case, he would find Humphrey not guilty. The charge was then dismissed, and Colbert directly apologized to Humphrey.
“The judge said that he was accepting the dismissal and that he was sorry that I had to go through the arrest and the prosecution. And he thanked me for my courage," Humphrey continued. “The judge thanked me for my courage and apologized for what that board president did, and [said] there is no crime in being gay at the library."
