A Tennessee librarian is fighting back against what she’s calling “a clear act of viewpoint discrimination” as she refuses to abide by an order to move over 100 children’s/teen books with LGBTQ+ themes to the adult section.
The director of the Rutherford County Library System, which covers an area outside of Nashville, cited the First Amendment in an email to the library system’s board last week after it voted to relocate 190-plus mostly LGBTQ+ titles in response to a review of “age-appropriate” materials in the collection, The Advocate reported Saturday.
“Public libraries serve as a vital repositories of diverse ideas, both popular and unpopular,” Luanne James wrote. “Restricting access to these materials through subjective relocation or removal constitutes a violation of the community’s right to information and a direct infringement on the principles of free speech.”
The vote follows a monthslong campaign led by the board’s chair, Cody York, to protect children from what he called “gender confusion” and titles promoting LGBTQ+ stories, per Nashville’s NBC affiliate WSMV-TV.
Tens of thousands of titles in the library system were eyed in the review sparked by a heavily panned directive from Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett, a response to President Donald Trump’s executive order intended to target the promotion of “gender ideology” in schools.
Among the books that the board hopes to relocate include LGBTQ-friendly titles such as Adam Knave’s “The Airless Year,” Jyoti Rajan Gopal’s “Desert Queen,” and Nico Medina’s “What Was Stonewall?” (The Tennessean named more titles here, per a list provided by advocacy group Rutherford County Library Alliance.)
York, in a statement to WSMV-TV, said James’ refusal to move the books “constitutes insubordination” and could result in “serious disciplinary consideration, up to and including termination.”
The pushback from James — who began serving as the library system’s director last July — comes after she accused York of not following protocol to remove books from the library system back in December.
She accused York of checking out books he wanted banned and keeping them until they were deemed lost and eventually removed from the system, Nashville’s ABC affiliate WKRN-TV reported.
She also claimed that York asked for information on what books patrons checked out. York has denied James’ allegations.
Rutherford County Library Alliance Vice President Keri Lambert, whose group describes itself as dedicated to “safeguarding the principles of intellectual freedom and unrestricted access to information” in the library system, told media outlets that James is “the epitome of a true American Patriot.”
“The bravery to stand up and say, ‘No, I will not violate my ethics and go against the Constitution of the United States,’ is the kind of leadership we need to see more of,” Lambert said. “She is an inspiration to all, and I could not be more thankful that she is a member of our community.”
The library system’s board is set to consider firing James at a special meeting scheduled for Monday.
