The director of a Tennessee county library district has been fired after refusing to remove nearly 200 of what she described in a letter as “‘LGBTQ-plus themed/teen books” from the children’s area of the branches she was hired to supervise.
She’s been… discarded, so to speak:
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WKRN) — A dispute over more than 190 books in the children’s section of the Rutherford County library system ended with the firing of library director Luanne James following a board vote Monday night.
The decision came after a tense public meeting, where board members clashed over whether the titles should be moved to the adult section. At the center of the debate was the director’s refusal to relocate the books, a stance that drew both support and criticism from the community and officials.
Supporters argued the decision should remain in the hands of trained library professionals and warned against restricting access to materials. Others on the board maintained the issue was about oversight and determining what is appropriate for younger readers.
By the end of the meeting, James was let go from her job. The report by WKRN (linked above) added that the fate of the books is still undecided.
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In case you’re interested, here’s the letter I mentioned near the top. As these kinds of pseudo-freedom lovers who just want to save the children (and did I mention, freedom) tend to do, it’s little more than a caustic screed about allegedly fighting censorship. Buckle up!
I am disappointed that I lost my job as director of the county library system. I lost it for doing exactly what librarians are supposed to do, protect the rights of all community members to access books and information.
I was instructed by the Rutherford County library board to relocate well over 100 books, including LGBTQ plus themed/teen books. I refused to do so because I believe such action constitutes censorship, violates the first amendment and goes against my duty to uphold intellectual freedom through American Library Association guidelines.
Public libraries are community forums, serving the entire community, not just those who share the loudest voice or the most restricted views. Librarians should not be used as a filter for political agendas.
I stood up for the right to read —standing for the citizens of Rutherford County. I believe my firing is an unlawful act of viewpoint discrimination. This action hurts library patrons, not just the librarian.
I’ve worked throughout my professional career to gain the knowledge, experience and trust to become a library director. This trust compels me to fight for the freedom of this community to read freely. This includes the right of young people to access books and ideas, and to resist an order to essentially hide the books.
She closed the rant by saying she’s “exploring all legal options to challenge this retaliatory termination,” and that she thinks the board removing her is “illegal.” Her hope, she said, was that her activism at the library “encourage[s] others to stand against the targeting of our public institutions.”
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This is how they think on the Left. They are the virtuous victims here. The fact is that no one is targeting libraries or any other public institution from the Conservative side; if anyone is, it’s them..
No, protecting the next generation from the normalization of mental illness by shelving LGBTQ-plus materials where only adults can access them is not censorship or anti-freedom. The parent is a child’s first and best teacher; a mom or dad needs to be the one to decide what is appropriate, anyway, not people like this librarian with an obviously slanted political agenda.
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