A library director with over 25 years of experience has been dismissed from her post after refusing a direct order to move LGBTQ+ children’s books out of sections accessible to young readers. Luanne James was fired by the Rutherford County Library Board following a confrontation over what she described as “government-mandated viewpoint discrimination.”
The board’s final vote to terminate James’s employment was 8-3, taken during a special-called meeting on March 31. The decision followed weeks of escalating conflict that began on March 16, when the board voted to relocate 132 children’s books, predominantly featuring LGBTQ+ themes, from the children’s and teen sections to the adult section. Board Chair Cody York reportedly characterised the books in question as promoting “gender confusion.”
James, who was appointed director of the six-branch Rutherford County Library System in July 2025, firmly declined to carry out the order. In an email to the board, she argued that restricting access through subjective relocation violated the community’s right to information and infringed on First Amendment principles of free speech. “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,” James wrote. She stated that complying would compromise her professional obligation to oppose censorship and “government-mandated viewpoint discrimination,” adding unequivocally, “I am not going to change my mind.”
During the meeting that sealed her dismissal, James reiterated her stance: “All I’m going to say is that I stand by my decision. I will not change my mind.” She was then escorted from the commission chambers by sheriff’s deputies as supporters chanted “We stand with Luanne!” and shouted “Shame!”
Board’s Justification and a Rebutted Claim
Defending the board’s original order to relocate the books, Chair Cody York offered a specific rationale. “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,” he said. Claims framing gender-affirming care for minors as the “dismembering” of body parts are common anti-trans talking points. These have been widely debunked by healthcare professionals, who emphasise that such care for minors primarily involves mental health support and, in some cases, reversible treatments like puberty blockers, with surgical interventions on minors being rare.
The board’s actions were supported by newly retained legal counsel. For the disciplinary proceedings against James, the board voted to hire Brentwood attorney Larry Crain, whose practice is described as using a “biblically-informed legal perspective.” The board had previously retained an attorney from the American Center for Law and Justice. James is expected to file a lawsuit challenging her dismissal on First Amendment grounds.
A Broader Landscape of Censorship
This local conflict unfolds against a backdrop of concerted state and national efforts to restrict library materials. In Tennessee, the 2022 Age-Appropriate Materials Act has led to hundreds of titles being removed from school libraries for containing nudity, sexual content, or “excessive violence.” Furthermore, a 2022 law granted the state’s Textbook and Instructional Materials Quality Commission the power to ban books from school libraries through an appeals process.
In December 2025, Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett directed library leadership to review children’s books for “age-appropriateness” and compliance concerning “gender ideology extremism,” a move that reportedly caused alarm among librarians.
Rutherford County itself has a recent history of such disputes. In August 2023, the library board removed four books with LGBTQ+ themes, including “Flamer”—the most challenged book in Tennessee in 2022—following a Murfreesboro “decency” ordinance. There have also been allegations, denied by York, that the board chair directed staff to compile lists of patrons who checked out LGBTQ+-themed books.
In April 2025, PEN America joined a federal lawsuit against the Rutherford County Board of Education over a policy banning “sexually explicit” books, which led to the removal or restriction of over 145 titles. That lawsuit noted the board’s partial reliance on reviews from “Book Looks,” a website associated with the conservative activist group Moms for Liberty.
Following James’s firing, Kasey Meehan, director of PEN America’s Freedom to Read program, said the former director “demonstrated her deep commitment to the freedom to read and the principles of librarianship, at a steep cost.” Meehan added that James’s story would “echo across the country as emblematic of the fight against censorship and suppression.”
The national context includes a rise in book bans and over 500 legislative bills targeting LGBTQ+ communities. The principles James cited are codified by the American Library Association, which defines intellectual freedom as the right to seek information “from all points of view without restriction.” Its code of ethics instructs librarians to “resist all efforts to censor.” In a significant subsequent move, the Rutherford County Library Board voted to sever ties with the ALA and remove its guidelines from library system policy.
