LINCOLN, Maine — As a local author spoke about the details of this town that are included in her memoir, the audience packed into the sitting area of the Lincoln Memorial Library came to life.
The crowd of nearly 50 people talked about the restaurants on the main strip and other memories of the once-booming mill town at the Thursday event.
But all the while, a Lincoln police officer stood by the door.
Her presence was the only reminder that Chris Davis’ appearance for her memoir, “Worthy: The Memoir of an ex-Mormon Lesbian,” was canceled for a single day in August over fears of community backlash because of the book’s topic and author.
The town councilor who asked the library to cancel the event, John Trask, said he wanted to avoid turning the library into “political football” and that he had seen “numerous groups protesting ‘drag queen story time’ throughout the country” and didn’t want similar attention in Lincoln, according to emails obtained by the Bangor Daily News.
Controversy found the town anyway.
Weeks later, a Lincoln teacher’s comments in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination sparked parent outrage and a chaotic school board meeting that ended with a board member slapping a man’s phone out of his hand.
The two recent events in Lincoln highlight the difficulty of navigating the boundaries of free speech in a time when people, organizations and municipalities can face backlash or lose funding over appearing inclusive or critiquing conservative politics.
The school board meeting came days after Jimmy Kimmel was suspended for comments that implied Kirk’s killer had conservative ties.
Teachers in Maine and other states have similarly faced scrutiny and discipline over their comments on Kirk’s death. One Mattanawcook Academy teacher in Lincoln was said to have made a comment about Kirk’s death and is under investigation by the RSU, according to the school.
On Wednesday, Tim Bodnar, a social media activist from Newport who livestreams school board meetings, attended the Lincoln School Board meeting and said the teacher who made the comment about Kirk could “have free speech. He just can’t have a job on taxpayer money.”
The meeting devolved into a yelling match between Bodnar and board member Andrew Funaro, culminating in the board member slapping Bodnar’s phone out of his hand.
The Lincoln Police Department is investigating the incident, according to Police Chief Lee Miller.
Rick Bronson, the Lincoln town manager, said the town tries to avoid controversy but found itself faced with a decision about the library event that would bring attention to the area no matter the outcome.
“The minute it was unscheduled, we were in a lose-lose situation no matter what we did. Which leads to, and I’ve said this to the librarian, maybe it never should have been scheduled,” Bronson said.
The divisive nature of national politics has seeped into Lincoln and changed how the town looks at what events are held because of the backlash they could create, Bronson said.
The author’s appearance was previously approved by the council. Bronson said he should have asked more questions about the event and what it was about to head off the possibility of controversy, but following the approval there was little the town could do.
If the council were to ask him how the town would avoid this happening again, Bronson said he would tell them “just don’t have another one of these events, even if it’s for a children’s book.”
Trask, the town councilor, contacted Library Director Lauren Hakala after he received phone calls from multiple people on Aug. 26 who were opposed to the author speaking in Lincoln, he wrote in the emails.
But Hakala reinstated the event the next day after the Lincoln Police Department found there were no threats. One Lincoln police officer attended the event at the town’s request, Miller said.
Davis said the brief cancellation sent a message to her and the rest of the Lincoln community that she’s not welcome to be herself.
“My book is about living in a cage. It’s not about lesbian sex. And so by canceling the event or forcing the event to be canceled, it sent the message to me and to my community, and to Lincoln and everybody who is represented by this council, that I belong in that cage,” Davis said.
Davis believes that town politics were “undeniably” used to exclude her because a councilor personally responded to complaints and didn’t go through a larger council meeting or town meeting.
Trask declined to comment.
The public backlash for the event happening is not an accurate reflection of how Lincoln residents think or react to events like Davis’, but rather was the reaction of one or a few upset citizens that went to Trask, Lincoln Councilor Gordon Street said.
“It would be sad if people got the idea that what happened was a reflection of the community. My belief is that what happened is a reflection of a few people who got upset, not the community as a whole,” he said.
Some Lincoln residents said they didn’t know the author event was happening or that a school board meeting had taken place. Peggy Grant said she wasn’t planning on attending the event at all until the cancellation “caused a commotion.” She decided to go to show that free speech is accepted in Lincoln.