Librarian refuses to move LGBTQ+ propaganda away from kids — and seals her fate

Radicals in Alabama appear to have found a gray-haired figure around which to rally to oppose the broader conservative effort to shield American children from mature and perverse content.

The Rutherford County Library Board removed Luanne James from her position as director of the library system after she refused to fulfill her duties and move hundreds of titles containing inappropriate content — ranging from a book targeting adolescents about sexual activity to books about "genderfluidity" and transgenderism — from the kids' section to the adult section.

'I stand by my decision.'

The usual suspects have characterized the bespectacled obstructionist as a free-speech champion and her termination as unlawful.

How it started

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) repeatedly expressed concern in 2023 over children's exposure to "inappropriate, sexually suggestive materials without adequate means of parental supervision" in her state's taxpayer-funded libraries.

Ivey noted in a Sept. 1, 2023, letter to the director of the Alabama Public Library Service that the growing parental concern underpinning her own would not be remedied by removing books containing inappropriate content, including radical "gender transition" propaganda, but rather by "ensuring that these books are placed in an appropriate location."

In the same spirit, the Alabama Legislative Services Agency proposed rule changes to the APLS in 2024 that would make libraries' state funding conditional on moving content "inappropriate" for kids to an adult section.

Last month, the APLS board of trustees said that the Legislative Services Agency approved the change, reported AL.com.

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Luis Soto/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

Rutherford County Library board meeting documents reveal that Luanne James expressed a willingness to relocate some thematically and graphically mature titles but dug in her heels to keep numerous provocative works of LGBT agitprop in the juvenile sections of her county's libraries.

The Murfreesboro Daily News Journal reported that among the over 130 titles that James refused to move are:

• "Pride in Sports," an LGBT activist book by a lesbian couple that apparently attempts to normalize non-straight sexual preferences and sex-rejection procedures;
• "Welcome to Your Period," a book about menstruation that contains illustrations of female body parts and claims that doctors can administer drugs to "try to block or stop periods and other physical changes" for "transgender children," which the authors claim "have existed for as long as time";
• "The Every Body Book," a book that discusses and illustrates various body parts while pushing gender ideology on kids; and
• "Lily and Dunkin," a story about a romance involving an 8th-grade boy deluded into thinking he's really a girl.

To James' chagrin, the board decided in an 8-3 vote on March 16 to move over 100 of the inappropriate LGBT titles to the adult section.

James noted in a letter to the board two days later that "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."

"I will not comply with the Board's decision to relocate these books," wrote James. "Doing so would violate the First Amendment right of all citizens of Rutherford County and myself."

How it's going

Having proven unwilling to do her job, James was relieved of it on March 30.

The board's 8-3 vote to kick James to the curb was met by a mix of applause by detractors and furious booing by supporters at the packed Rutherford County Courthouse. James later said, "I stand by my decision," reported the Murfreesboro Daily News Journal.

Cody York said in a statement obtained by the Daily News Journal that James' "refusal to implement a lawful directive of the Rutherford County Library Board constitutes insubordination."

Nashville attorney Chuck Mangelsdorf said, "Her termination we believe is completely unlawful," and said James is "a guardian of the First Amendment."

PEN America said in a statement that it "stands with Rutherford County Library System Director Luanne James in her refusal to banish LGBTQ+ children’s books from access by relocating them to the adult section. Children and teens deserve access to diverse books that represent their identities and stories and books that introduce young people to new ideas and perspectives."

Kasey Meehan, the director of PEN America's Freedom to Read program, claimed that James' "story will echo from the courthouse in Murfreesboro, Tenn., across the country as emblematic of the fight against censorship and suppression," reported the Advocate.

Supporters have already crowdfunded over $72,000 on GoFundMe for James.

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