09-04-2025
Why library books about transgender people are under fire in these two Tennessee counties
Following a record-breaking year of book bans across Tennessee, two Tennessee counties are fighting to completely remove library books that reference youth transgender issues, claiming they promote 'gender confusion.'
The Rutherford County Library System Board passed a policy on March 17 that required the removal of all material from county libraries that 'promotes, encourages, advocates for or normalizes transgenderism or 'gender confusion' in minors."
Meanwhile, Sumner County officials are following the same lead, with a nearly-identical change proposed to their Collection Development Management policy that will ban anything in county libraries that makes 'mention of pertaining, promoting, or subjecting a minor to transgender or gender confusion ideology.'
The changes also remove a number of references in the original library policy to creating 'balanced' collections, removal of the term 'constitutionally protected' materials, a ban on interlibrary loans of books that include minor transgender topics, and a ban on the usage of the American Library Association's resources for book curation.
It is set to be presented to the board for vote at the Wednesday evening meeting on April 9.
On Tuesday, a letter from the Hendersonville Public Library Director Alycia Neighbours leaked on social media announced her resignation, citing numerous policy changes and the "increasing demand to enforce policies that undermine both our Friends of the Library and the integrity of our collection."
"It is clear I can no longer, in good conscience, continue in this role," she said.
In a separate, public social media post, Neighbours said the letter was an "unedited draft," which was "meant solely for my governing board, sent from my personal email to my work email for editing, but was somehow shared publicly."
"Some people assume my resignation was because of 'this policy' or 'that issue,' but the truth is the work of a library director is far more complex than any single policy issue," she said in her post.
A number of major First Amendment organizations, including the National Coalition Against Censorship, PEN America and the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, are pushing back against the Rutherford County policy, calling it 'viewpoint discrimination' and 'highly problematic.'
'As a federal appeals court once put it, a 'library is a storehouse of knowledge' — not a storehouse of government-approved ideas,' FIRE Director of Public Advocacy Aaron Terr said. 'Rutherford County should quickly turn the page on this ill-conceived attempt at censorship and restore the public's access to ideas of all stripes, no matter how objectionable some might find them.'
The policy passed in a contentious Rutherford County meeting last month.
Board member Cody York, who proposed the policy, said the aim was to "protect children."
Heather Cook, a Rutherford County resident who spoke at the meeting, said she was emulating St. Patrick by "shining a light into the darkness" and "standing for the truth in opposition to the deception of transgender ideology and gender confusion, which ultimately leads to gender dysphoria and the mutilation of our children."
"Evil is being accepted as good, and good is being called evil," she said.
The move is unique among previous book-banning attempts, Terr said, because it isn't intended to just age-restrict books from minors, but rather from all readers.
'This is censorship, plain and simple,' he said. 'The board is removing books based solely on their viewpoint or perspective, and that violates the First Amendment. The government cannot empty public libraries of books that promote 'transgenderism' any more than it could ban all books that promote traditional gender roles, Christianity or capitalism, or any other idea."
'Libraries don't exist to reflect the views of whoever happens to be in power,' he said. 'They exist to serve the public's right to freely access ideas and information.'
While the general trend of book bans — both in Tennessee and across the nation — is to remove books that are considered sexually-explicit, Terr said this policy doesn't even attempt to cloak itself in such claims.
'I think what some people might have in mind is that children's books that feature transgender characters, or books for young adults that feature transgender characters which might have some sexual passages in them are unprotected,' he said. 'But even those are protected by the First Amendment. And when the government starts picking and choosing what views are acceptable for library shelves, it's no longer a library. It's a propaganda factory.'
The removal and targeting of LGBTQ+ books facing accusations of being sexually explicit is a 'growing trend' across the nation, Terr said.
More: Race, sex and the Holocaust: As book bans grow across the state, some genres see more bans
'Efforts to restrict library content often take aim at controversial or politically sensitive topics like race and gender,' he said. 'So what's happening in Rutherford County fits squarely into that larger picture. There's a fine line between making a bona fide determination of age appropriateness and removing a book out of hostility to the ideas or perspectives that it contains.'
This fine line is addressed in the Rutherford County School Board's policy manual, which states 'Individual censorship may be exercised within the scope of the individual choosing materials for check out, but censorship or withholding of library materials for others within the community is not accepted within the institution of the public library.'
This policy is directly violated by the board's new decision, Terr said.
'Nothing in the board's publicly available policies allows for proactive removal of an entire category of books, let alone removal based on disapproval of a particular viewpoint,' he said. 'It's really no different than if they decided on their own to remove all books that promote gun ownership, or all books written by Republicans or Democrats. It's not the viewpoint that matters—it's the fact that they're discriminating against any viewpoint at all.'
More: 'Not enough kids in these meetings': Students weigh in as 1,100 books banned in Tennessee
Christine Emeran, the Youth Free Expression program director for the National Coalition Against Censorship, also criticized the county for ignoring its board policies.
'It is obviously highly problematic for board members to decide when and if they must comply with district policies, regardless of their intentions,' she said. 'It is particularly problematic for them to ignore reconsideration procedures, because doing so exposes the board to potential legal liability.'
With news that Sumner County is proposing a nearly-identical policy, Terr said it is important to stand up to such policies.
'If one county or city gets away with it, then nearby cities and counties may feel like they have permission to do the same thing,' he said.
Neither Rutherford County Library System board members nor Sumner County Library Board members responded to requests for comment.
The USA TODAY Network - Tennessee's coverage of First Amendment issues is funded through a collaboration between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners.
Have a story to tell? Reach Angele Latham by email at alatham@ by phone at 931-623-9485, or follow her on Twitter at @angele_latham
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Library books about trans people under fire in two Tennessee counties
