WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (KNX) — The campaign to rename the West Hollywood Library after the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg came to a halt Monday after several months of debate between city lawmakers and residents.
The push to rename the library for the deceased jurist began in Dec. 2020 via proposal by Mayor Lauren Meister. Critics have opposed the plan, contending Ginsburg had no substantive connection to West Hollywood, and that naming the library for a local figure might be more appropriate.
“She never lived in the city of West Hollywood, she never lived in the state of California,” said resident Jamie Francis in a public comment. “So it makes no sense for us to honor her as a jurist on a city library when there are so many people who contributed in the local society and the community of West Hollywood all the last century.”
Councilmember Sepi Shyne proposed a compromise between the two camps: retaining the name of the library as is, and instead naming a room inside after Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Councilmember Lindsey Horvath supported the motion. “We love West Hollywood,” she said. “Everybody’s passionate about it and so I’m grateful that we were able to keep the library name in a way that brings people together and creates a really important space in the library.”
The motion passed four to one, with only Councilmember John D’Amico opposing.
“I guess I have a slightly different point of view,” D’Amico said, attributing it to “the sort of misogyny that went through the community and the suggestion that [Ginsburg’s] amazing work is not alive in each one of us.”
The measure to rename a room within the library for Ginsburg was tabled for a later council session.
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