Fired Wyoming librarian hopes $700,000 settlement deters conservative lawmakers. They say it won’t.

The Gillette librarian who settled a lawsuit against Campbell County over her July 2023 firing for a $700,000 payment says she hopes Wyoming lawmakers take note of the hefty sum.

Terri Lesley sued in April, alleging the Campbell County Public Library System Board of Trustees violated her First Amendment right to free speech and dismissed her in retaliation for her opposition to efforts by local conservatives to control where LGBTQ-centered books appeared in the library.

“My hope is that this will be a deterrent,” Lesley told WyoFile on Thursday, “that we can shut down all these censorship efforts in Wyoming and beyond.”

But two Wyoming Freedom Caucus lawmakers who want the Legislature to weigh in on library materials statewide were quick to dismiss the idea that the hefty settlement sho