Abington Library has offered a safe space for LGBTQ+ kids for years. It’s now the subject of a far-right social media campaign.

For more than four years, dozens of LGBTQ+ kids and their families have joined the Abington Township Public Library for Rainbow Connections, a monthly Zoom program, to read children’s books, craft, make new friends, and meet interesting people, such as “Jeopardy!” super champ Amy Schneider.

But within the past week, the program — the only one of its kind in Montgomery County libraries — has become a target of a right-wing social media campaign that has circulated misinformation and directed threatening language at the program, prompting the library to release a statement Monday setting the record straight, said Library Director Elizabeth Fitzgerald in an interview Tuesday.

“Rainbow Connections is not a sexual education class. Sexual health, reproduction, puberty, and intimate relationships are not discussed,” the statement said in part.

Though it’s “not different from any other story time or library program,” Fitzgerald says, Rainbow Connections’ mission is to foster a welcoming and intentional environment for LGBTQ+ kids in grades K-5, including those who may be struggling to make friends at school. Its virtual format has allowed families from around the country to join.

“Ultimately just a space where the kids could attend a library program and feel safe,” Fitzgerald said.

Comments attacking the program appeared on the library’s Facebook page early last week. A day later, LibsofTikTok, a controversial far-right social media account founded by Chaya Raichik, as identified by the Washington Post, posted about Rainbow Connections.

LibsofTikTok, which frequently targets LGBTQ+ people nationwide, spurred misinformed outrage from its millions of followers about the program’s upcoming events.

The account’s posts have often provoked real-life consequences. In 2024, after posting about the William Way Community Center, an LGBTQ+-focused nonprofit in Philadelphia, Democratic Sen. John Fetterman and former Democratic Sen. Bob Casey signed a letter requesting to withdraw federal funding from a renovation project that would have made the center’s headquarters more accessible and expanded William Way’s programming space.

“These are difficult times, and I think that the commentary that took off on social media underscores the reason why we need to create spaces where members of the LGBTQ community feel safe,” Fitzgerald said.

Library staff established the program in November 2021 after a community member reached out and asked if the library would help address a need for a safe space for LGBTQ+ kids.

According to anonymous comments from families provided by the library to The Inquirer, parents are profoundly grateful for the safe environment that Rainbow Connections has created for their children. Names were withheld by the library to protect families’ safety and privacy.

“My children live in a two-mom household, so I thought it would be a great program to connect with other kids and possibly see other families that look like ours,” one parent said.

Another parent said they had “tears in my eyes listening to [the kids] introduce themselves, awed by their bravery and vulnerability.”

A family who lives in North Carolina said Rainbow Connections helped their child better understand their identity and build community — “Your program brought us light, hope and education when we were feeling isolated, confused and hopeless.”

The social media ambush against Rainbow Connections comes amid an increasingly hostile environment for the LGBTQ+ community. For instance, President Donald Trump signed an executive order recognizing only two genders, and his administration has proposed a plan to prevent hospitals from offering gender-affirming care to minors.

In Abington, it’s not the first time that events related to the LGBTQ+ community have been disparaged, said Township Commissioner John Spiegelman, who represents the area where the public library is located. The township’s yearly raising of the Pride flag has provoked a lawsuit against Spiegelman and other members of the board, he said.

“Is it getting worse here and everywhere? Certainly it is,” Spiegelman said.

In the aftermath of the social media posts, Fitzgerald said Rainbow Connections will be contacting parents to say the program will continue and that “their safety is ensured.”

“It is my hope that the children who participate don’t have any idea that this is going on,” Fitzgerald added.

Since the online backlash, the Montgomery County community has rallied around the library and Rainbow Connections, which has served as a model for other Pennsylvania libraries’ programming for LGBTQ+ youth.

“More communities should embrace programs like Rainbow Connections,” said Jason Landau Goodman, board chair of the Pennsylvania Youth Congress, an LGBTQ+ advocacy organization, in a statement. “Young students today read books that feature all types of people because diverse stories reflect the real world we live in.”

“Some students experience bullying or harassment based on who they are — and many still do not get opportunities to see themselves reflected in the stories they learn from,” added Goodman, who is also running for state representative in Montgomery County.

The Abington Human Relations Commission said in a statement Monday that they stand in “solidarity” with the library and encouraged community members to “seek information directly from reliable sources and to engage in dialogue grounded in respect and understanding.”

Fitzgerald said that in spite of the derogatory comments snowballing online, the library has been receiving an onslaught of supportive calls and emails.

“That’s really meant the world to us,” she said. “Just to know that the people who don’t want this program to exist, they’re a vocal, small, nonlocal majority, and that I believe there’s a much larger number of residents who love the library and who care about their neighbors and fellow community members.”