MURFREESBORO, TENN. — The Rutherford County Library Board voted 8-3 on Monday evening to fire library system director Luanne James after she refused to comply with the board's order to move more than 100 LGBTQ books from the children's section to the adult section in county libraries. The decision followed a March 16 vote by the board to relocate approximately 132 books after an age-appropriateness review, with the board claiming the books promote gender confusion.

Two days after the board's March 16 vote, James emailed the board stating she would not move the books. She said that relocating the books would violate her and county residents' First Amendment rights and compromise her professional obligation against government-mandated viewpoint discrimination. "I stand by my decision and I will not change my mind," she said at the meeting.

The Monday meeting was marked by cheers and boos from the audience, with supporters of James's decision to keep the LGBTQ books in the children's section cheering during the proceedings.

After the board voted to fire her, James's attorney read a statement from her saying she thought the firing was an unlawful act of viewpoint discrimination. "I stood up for the right to read, standing for the citizens of Rutherford County," James said in the statement.

Cody York, chairman of the Rutherford County Library Board, said he was concerned about LGBTQ and other social justice themes in the books and that they should be removed from the children's section. "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. I don't think that that's appropriate for children," York said. He added: "When a director refuses to carry out a duly adopted Board decision, it undermines the governance of the institution and cannot be ignored."

Kasey Meehan, director of the Freedom to Read program for PEN America, said: "Her story will echo from the Courthouse in Murfreesboro, TN, across the county, as emblematic of the fight against censorship and suppression."

James was appointed as the county library director in July 2025 and has worked for more than 25 years in public library roles, including directorships in Texas and South Carolina.

Last year, the Tennessee Secretary of State's office sent letters to library systems across the state requesting immediate reviews of the content in their children's sections. The office said that libraries receiving federal and state funding must comply with applicable laws and referenced an executive order from President Donald Trump regarding gender ideology.

In December, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal in a Texas free speech case that allowed local officials to remove books deemed objectionable from public libraries. Last fall, former Wyoming library director Terri Lesley won $700,000 to settle a lawsuit after her firing during public controversy over books with sexual content and LGBTQ themes. Campbell County officials said that only Lesley's performance played a role in her dismissal.