Tennessee library director, Luanne James, has been fired from her role after she refused to re-shelve children’s books, with LGBTQ+ themes and characters, in the adult’s section. She said that moving more than 100 children’s books would detract from her obligation to protect the public’s right to access information.
In an email sent to the Rutherford county library system board earlier in March, James criticised the board’s order to relocate the children’s titles to the adult section. She 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.”
She added: “Our libraries are funded by and for the citizens; therefore, the right to access information – free from government interference – is a protected hallmark of our democracy.
“My duty to protect public access is not merely a personal opinion; it is a core tenet of the American Library Association’s code of ethics. As an arm of the county government, the board cannot legally limit the public’s access to materials owned by the people based on the content of the ideas expressed with them.”
The library’s board chair, Cody York, tried to defend the body’s decision, saying: “I would argue that gender confusion [is] the idea of telling someone that boys aren’t really boys, they can be girls, and girls aren’t really girls, they can be boys, and that you should advocate for [or] encourage the dismembering of healthy sex organs.”
York’s claims are reflective of gender-critical views that frame gender-affirming care as surgical and ‘dismembering’. These claims have been widely criticised and debunked, the reality of gender-affirming care for young people usually boils down to social transitions. Social transitioning includes things such as the use of different pronouns, use of a different name, wearing clothes that feel more comfortable, styling hair and other measures that can be easily undone. Mental health treatment is also sometimes offered and, in some cases, reversible treatments such as puberty blockers are offered. Most hospitals do not offer surgical interventions to minors at all.
Despite the pushback from York, as well as some protestors who claimed that “the things that they’re feeding in these books are just straight lies”, James said that she would not comply with the board’s order, and that she was not going to change her mind.
After James was dismissed, the director of PEN America’s Freedom to Read program, Kasey Meehan, said she “demonstrated her deep commitment to the freedom to read and the principles of librarianship, at a steep cost”.
