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3 decades after sparking a debate about censorship, ‘Daddy’s Roommate’ returns to Rutland

The children’s book “Daddy’s Roommate,” as pictured at the Rutland Free Library. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDigger

By Kevin O'ConnorPublished Sep 27, 2026, 6:11 AMUpdated Sep 27, 20265 min read

A book cover titled “Daddy’s Roommate” by Michael Willhoite shows two men and a boy in a boat, as a person walks past library shelves labeled “Juvenile.”.

The children’s book “Daddy’s Roommate,” as pictured at the Rutland Free Library. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDigger

" data-large-file="https://vtdigger.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/VTD-Book-club-1-1200x900.jpg?crop=1" /> The children’s book “Daddy’s Roommate,” as pictured at the Rutland Free Library. Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDigger

For newcomers, the inaugural selection of the Rutland Free Library’s upcoming Freedom to Read Book Club might seem an unusual choice: an out-of-print 1990s children’s title with only one sentence on each of its 32 pages.

But ask any longtime local: “Daddy’s Roommate” has plenty of backstory.

When leaders at the public library added the picture book to their 76,000-volume collection three decades ago, they hoped to help preschoolers whose fathers had divorced their mothers to move in with another man.

“Mommy says Frank and Daddy are gay,” notes the book’s young narrator, who asks what that means.

“Being gay is just one more kind of love,” the mother responds. “And love is the best kind of happiness.”

A now-deceased Rutland parent disagreed. In the spring of 1995, she shared her concerns with neighbors, conservative groups and national television networks. Two months later, nearly 350 people stood in and outside the library as its governing board reviewed and ultimately rejected calls to limit access to the book.

Today, about half the local population wasn’t alive or around during the debate, according to the census, while the library staff has changed completely. But the question of who should be able to read what lingers, with the American Library Association reporting the highest U.S. rate of book complaints since it began collecting data in 1990.

“Censorship has not been at this level since Joe McCarthy was in the U.S. Senate,” Rutland library director Randal Smathers, rewinding to the 1950s, said in an interview. “There is an organized and politicized attack on what the whole country can read, say and think.”

In response, Rutland’s new Freedom to Read Book Club is inviting the public to meet the first Monday of each month from October through May to learn about specific titles and why they’re sparking debate.

“We’ve seen this proliferate from libraries into mainstream media, public broadcasting, national parks, museums, cultural institutions,” Janique Robillard, a producer of the recent Emmy Award-winning documentary “The Librarians,” said at a library program on the subject last week. “Censorship is trickling into anywhere there is history, documentation, archive, the written word.”

Joy Worland, a consultant with the Vermont Department of Libraries, added it was also spreading to current studies.

“There were more book bans about science and medical things in the last year than there ever have been,” Worland said. “Misinformation is huge right now.”

A Rutland Free Library sign asks about “Daddy’s Roommate.” (The answer is B.) Photo by Kevin O’Connor/VTDigger

Activists increasingly are plugging into artificial intelligence and other technology to push large-scale challenges of library and school books that feature sexual, racial, ethnic or religious diversity, according to a recent report by the nonprofit literary organization PEN America.

Rutland’s issue started more simply. In the spring of 1995, the local Herald featured front-page headlines about the deadly bombing of an Oklahoma City federal building. Inside, the April 23 edition also noted a local veterans’ fundraiser, an owl show-and-tell and one parent’s call for the Rutland library to segregate “Daddy’s Roommate” from the rest of the children’s collection.

“It doesn’t belong where impressionable 5-year-olds might read it,” the parent was quoted.

June Osowski, the children’s librarian at the time, felt differently.

“We live in a pluralistic society,” the now-late Osowski told the Herald. “Libraries subscribe to the idea of intellectual freedom. Our community is a lot more varied than people think.”

Within a week, the seemingly tucked-away story led to multiple letters to the editor and interest from the Associated Press. Within a month, news crews from CNN and NBC were filming in Rutland. By June, so many people wanted to attend a public hearing on the issue, the 180 people who squeezed into the library were matched by nearly as many waiting outside.

“Under the glare of television lights that heated the already sweltering air to nearly 90 degrees, library trustees heard polarized viewpoints,” the Herald reported of the three-hour session. “In general, the crowd seemed fairly evenly divided.”

Library leaders were not: They went on to retain the book and receive a national award from the American Library Association for “successful mobilization of the community in support of the library’s intellectual freedom policies.”

Today, Vermont isn’t reporting many news-making book controversies, in part because a 2024 state law requires libraries to “protect and promote the principles of free speech, inquiry, discovery and public accommodation” by adopting policies that “comply with the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and state and federal civil rights and antidiscrimination laws.”

“It’s still possible to challenge a book in Vermont, but it’s very hard to win that,” Worland said. “We have a very strong statute about this topic.”

Rutland’s Freedom to Read Book Club is set to kick off Oct. 5 at 6 p.m. at the library as part of the American Library Association’s Banned Books Week. Meetings will continue on the first Monday of the month, with Ray Bradbury’s 1953 dystopian novel “Fahrenheit 451” selected for November and the Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel “Maus” coming in December.

As library director, Smathers acknowledges publicity about the book club could rekindle protests.

“I hope it doesn’t cause antagonism, but we will not shy away from speaking out against censorship,” he said. “Our job is to provide for the whole community. We guarantee our library will have something to please — and offend — everybody.”

Read the story on VTDigger here: 3 decades after sparking a debate about censorship, ‘Daddy’s Roommate’ returns to Rutland.

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3 decades after sparking a debate about censorship, ‘Daddy’s Roommate’ returns to Rutland

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