Project 2025 has been in the news a lot lately. It is a 900+-page manifesto put out by the hyper-conservative Heritage Foundation that lays out a detailed plan for the right wing to take over the government and implement severely regressive policies in the event that Trump wins the general election in November.
The EveryLibrary Institute, a nonprofit advocacy group whose purpose is to protect libraries from right-wing assaults, has put out a report titled “Project 2025 and Its Consequences for Libraries.” What the report has uncovered is dire indeed for libraries, both public libraries and school libraries, should Project 2025 be enacted.
For more than a decade, libraries have been facing increasingly aggressive attacks from right-wing activists and organizations like Moms for Liberty. The attacks start with school libraries, pushing for the removal or outright banning of LGBTQ+ materials, but soon expands to defining anything LGBTQ-related as pornographic, calling for the dismissal and/or prosecution of librarians and teachers as pornographers attempting to sexualize children. They then move on to public libraries, threatening (sometimes successfully) facilities and staff with budget cuts and outright closure.
Project 2025 dives deep and early into the anti-LGBTQ+ agenda. In its very first section, the manifesto points to schools and libraries, among other things, as sources of a moral rot that threatens the existence of America. On page 1, the manifesto states that “children suffer the toxic normalization of transgenderism with drag queens and pornography invading their school libraries.” It goes on to say that “educators and public librarians who purvey it [i.e., ‘pornography’] should be classed as registered sex offenders.”
EveryLibrary’s report explains how Project 2025 puts LGBTQ+ students (and educators who support them) at extreme risk.
“Project 2025 would make public schools even more dangerous for LGBTQIA+ students, allowing them to be discriminated against and marginalized by insisting on a strict definition of one’s ‘sex,’” the report says. “Amendments to Title IX would define ‘sex’ under Title IX to mean only biological sex recognized at birth; and strengthen protections for faith-based educational institutions, programs, and activities…while rescinding the Biden administration’s expansion of Title IX protections.”
Further, the report says, “By suggesting schools and public libraries are purveyors of pornography, the Heritage Foundation uses the word pornography’s fear factor to vilify respected members of communities, spreading distrust, anxiety, and outrage. Book bans, censoring lessons, self-censoring library and classroom materials, mandated curricular changes, and vague legislative language outlawing topics and teaching styles are causing exhausted librarians and teachers to leave their jobs and often their professions as well.”
Libraries are particularly vulnerable to budget cuts. The Heritage Foundation knows this. The report points out that Project 2025, in addition to eliminating the Department of Education, would dismantle the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The IMLS is an independent agency that administers federal funds to libraries and museums. The loss of federal funding would end a wide range of programs, including library workforce development, technology upgrades, and community outreach initiatives. Libraries, particularly those in underserved and rural areas, would struggle to maintain current levels of service without federal support. This could lead to reduced hours, staff layoffs, and the elimination of important programs and services.
The loss of federal funding would disproportionately affect low-income and marginalized populations who rely on library services for access to information and opportunities for lifelong learning. Tribal libraries, in particular, would face challenges in preserving cultural heritage and providing educational resources.
The proposed dissolution of the Department of Education would also seriously impinge on the federal government’s ability to enforce civil rights laws in schools, which would be significantly reduced, moving enforcement to the Justice Department and limiting investigations. Reduced civil rights enforcement could lead to increased discrimination and inequity in schools. School libraries, as inclusive spaces that support diverse student populations, would struggle to maintain a safe and equitable environment for all students.
The report also points out the danger in the Heritage Foundation’s alliance with other far right-wing groups like Moms for Liberty. Policies promoted by Moms for Liberty often lead to the censorship of LGBTQ-inclusive materials, limiting access to diverse and critical information. Project 2025’s proposed changes, coupled with the influence of anti-LGBTQ+ and “parental rights” groups, present significant challenges for the quality of education and the role of public libraries in providing safe spaces and much-needed information for LGBTQ+ students.
EveryLibrary’s report wraps up its overview of the dangers Project 2025 poses not just to libraries, but to intellectual freedom in general, as well as to inclusivity and civil rights for marginalized communities, with a call for action. It says:
“The Project 2025 proposals must be taken seriously. The Heritage Foundation has tremendous influence in certain political circles. We have seen the impact of the alignments between Heritage and like-minded movements like Moms for Liberty about censorship, the Koch Brothers network about anti-tax movements, and the Trump administration’s repeated proposals to defund IMLS. Voters who care about libraries—and the people they serve—need to understand the impact that implementing Project 2025 will have on society and libraries.”
