Intellectual freedom just means "freedom that allows people to think about or study what they want" (thx @MerriamWebster). Nowhere does it say for intellectual freedom to exist, it has to be given a platform. Let Nazis believe what they want, but you don't need to let them

book your meeting rooms, which in turn will make SO MANY of your patrons feel unsafe and unwelcome. You're not stopping them from thinking what they want! You're just not giving them a platform to express those feelings. Because even if it is not a library sponsored program,

the average person doesn't understand that! They see something happening at the library and they associate it with the library. And by booking the meeting room and taking a Nazi or transphobe's money, YOU ARE COMPLICIT. Just like Freedom of Speech doesn't make you immune to

consequences, neither does intellectual freedom. You can think and believe and read whatever you want, but once you start doing harm to living, breathing people, that's not ok. And libraries do this all the time. We harm LGBTQ folx by not having pride programs. We harm everyone

when we attach our name to events that are little more than hate speech full of untruths. We harm ourselves by defending hatred in the name of intellectual freedom. If being a librarian means I need to be ok with hate speech and transphobic, racist nonsense, then maybe

I need to get the f out. I've seen ppl get fired for refusing to "card" and TRACK minors entering their library. That's the kind of good trouble librarians need to get into. Refuse to discriminate, no matter what form it takes. I am my own office of intellectual freedom.