A Tennessee library board removed its top librarian after she refused to carry out a decision to shift LGBTQ titles out of children’s sections, drawing national attention to the expanding fight over what books young readers can access.
According to the Rutherford County Library Board, the vote on Monday was 8-3 to fire library system director Luanne James. The board’s action followed a separate vote earlier in the month to move “more than 100” LGBTQ books from children’s shelves to the adult section, a step James resisted on First Amendment grounds and on what she described as her professional obligation not to implement government-mandated viewpoint discrimination.
The dispute has unfolded in Rutherford County, southeast of Nashville, as part of a broader, yearslong push over library content that often focuses on LGBTQ and other themes. James, appointed in July 2025, had said the relocation would violate her and county residents’ First Amendment rights, and she also said it would compromise her professional responsibility. The Monday meeting drew cheers and boos from the public, and board members and speakers pressed the issue in stark terms.
In comments reported from the board’s earlier March 16 meeting, board Chairman Cody York warned against telling children certain kinds of gender information. When the board later returned for its firing vote, the audience reaction underscored the political stakes of the decision, which the board framed around keeping youth reading separated from LGBTQ titles.
Two days after the March 16 vote, James emailed the board and said she would not move the books. At Monday’s meeting, James told the board, “I stand by my decision and I will not change my mind.” After the board voted to fire her, James’ attorney read a statement in which James said the firing was “an unlawful act of viewpoint discrimination.”
In the statement read by counsel, James said she stood up for “the right to read, standing for the citizens of Rutherford County.” Separately, she said “Librarians should not be used as a filter for political agendas,” according to the statement read at the meeting.
Kasey Meehan, director of the Freedom to Read program for PEN America, said James’ case will take on significance beyond the county. Meehan said, “Her story will echo from the Courthouse in Murfreesboro, TN, across the country, as emblematic of the fight against censorship and suppression,” reflecting the advocacy group’s broader position that government efforts to remove books from youth libraries raise free-expression concerns.
The hearing also included support for the board’s decision from school board member Caleb Tidwell, who urged the board to comply with the law and protect children. Tidwell said, “Follow the law,” and later told the board, “Protect the children. Hold the line.”
The developments in Rutherford County come amid other recent legal and political milestones. Last fall, a former Wyoming library director reached a reported settlement after being fired over books with sexual content and LGBTQ themes, and in December the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal involving a Texas free speech case that allowed local officials to remove books deemed objectionable from public libraries. In Tennessee, the secretary of state’s office sent letters last year to library systems requesting immediate reviews of what was in children’s sections, pointing to obligations tied to federal and state funding and referencing Trump’s executive order about gender ideology.