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A school librarian in Louisiana is suing two conservative activists for defamation after they falsely accused her of putting \u201cpornographic\u201d material in local libraries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had enough for everybody,\u201d Amanda Jones, a librarian at a middle school in Denham Springs, Louisiana and president of the Louisiana Association of School Librarians, told NBC News<\/a>. \u201cNobody stands up to these people. They just say what they want and there are no repercussions and they ruin people\u2019s reputations and there\u2019s no consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jones\u2019s suit, filed last week, argues that Facebook pages run by Michael Lunsford and Ryan Thames falsely labeled her a pedophile after she spoke against censorship at a July 19 Livingston Parish Library Board of Control meeting. She has also filed criminal complaints with the Livingston Parish Sheriff\u2019s Office against Lunsford and Thames.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During public comment at the July 19 board meeting, Jones voiced her concern that a motion under consideration to evaluate the content of certain sex education books available at the public library would lead to the banning of books containing LGBTQ content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2018While book challenges are often done with the best intentions, and in the name of age appropriateness, they often target marginalized communities such as BIPOC and the LBGTQ community,\u201d Jones said at the meeting according to the lawsuit<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe citizens of our parish consist of taxpayers who are white, Black, brown, gay, straight, Christian, non-Christian, people from all backgrounds and walks of life, and no one portion of the community should dictate what the rest of the citizens have access to. Just because you don\u2019t want to read it or see it, it doesn\u2019t give you the right to deny others or demand its relocation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf we remove or relocate books with LBGTQ or sexual health content, what message is that sending to our community members? Why is your belief system any more important than others\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lunsford, who runs conservative group Citizens for a New Louisiana, attended the meeting and spoke in favor of restricting books with sexual content. In the weeks following the meeting, Citizens for a New Louisiana\u2019s Facebook page posted numerous posts about Jones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhy is she fighting so hard to keep sexually erotic and pornographic materials in the kid\u2019s section?\u201d one post, which featured Jones\u2019s picture, read.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thames\u2019s \u201cBayou State of Mind\u201d Facebook page also posted a meme depicting Jones and accused her of \u201cadvocating teaching anal sex to 11-year-olds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jones said she has not left her house in two weeks due to comments on some posts encouraging violence against her. At the same time, she has raised $20,000 to fund her lawsuit against Lunsford and Thames via a GoFundMe campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf this takes four or five years, I\u2019m going to fight these people on this,\u201d she said. \u201cEven if I lose, I could say I stood up to them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Contributed by Gwyllm Llwydd)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Conservatives said the worst they could about librarian Amanda Jones when she defended her library\u2019s books. She\u2019s not letting them get away with it. By John Russell Monday, August 15, 2022 (lgbtqnation.com) Photo: Shutterstock A school librarian in Louisiana is suing two conservative activists for defamation after they falsely accused her of… Continue reading