The Rutherford County School System has already removed 150 or so books from their libraries, while citing Tennessee’s Age Appropriate Materials Act. The ACLU of Tennessee has brought a currently pending lawsuit against them, which has forced them to cease until the lawsuit is settled. The Rutherford County Library System announced in the Library Council’s meeting on December 1st that they have removed the 2,200 or so books that Tennessee’s Secretary of State Tre Hargett had requested be removed to comply with the Age Appropriate Material Act. This meeting also saw a call for Cody York, the chair who has been leading the book ban charge, to be removed as chair, and it saw the current Library Director Luanne James, for whistleblower protection and accuse York of asking her for patrons personal data and asking her to remove books from the YA section which were not on the list and were not previously consulted with or voted on by the board. The books in question are: “Forever” by Judy Blume, “Over the River and Through the Wood: A Holiday Adventure” by Lisa Marie Francis Child,” “The Antiracist Kid” by Tiffany Jewel, and “Making a Baby” by Rachel Greener. Other books that have already been confirmed removed by the Rutherford County Library System under the recently created and then rescinded “local decency” ordinance and the even more recently created and rescinded “anti-transgenderism” order include “Flamer” by Mike Curato and “Me and My Gender Dysphoria Monster” Laura Kate Dale and illustrated by Ang Hui Qing.
There is a very clear through line of targeting 2SLGBTQIA+ and/or non-white/BIPOC characters, perspectives, and story lines, as well as books that are informative and positive about sex, and books that acknowledge the realities of teen violence, teen suicide, teen drug use, teen rape, systemic racism, and inter-racial relationships.
Latest
Reads
We are meeting once a month, with the current location shifting between Linebaugh Library and First Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
- We read books that have been banned by the school board, by the county library board, and books that contain content that would not be approved of by either board.
- There are no content questions, its just discussions as led by the members.
- Feel free to come in and listen, even if you didn’t read the book or haven’t caught up to where everyone else is at.
Linebaugh Library!
Hello to all those who believe in freedom!
This club is meant for everyone who wants to connect to humanity in a meaningful way and make supportive connections in the local community.
I feel like a lot of the focus is on the constitutionality of the bans and on the people who’s jobs are affected by the bans,
and the people who are not able to access the books are left behind in the conversation.
taking a break for the holidays!
pending/undecided
Month
January, 2026
Author and date
???, ???
Fortunately (rolls eyes) the Rutherford County Library Council, the Rutherford County School System, the Tennessee Secretary of State, the Federal Executive Branch, and presumably the Governor have all decided to give us a lot of books to choose from for next year. Isn’t that sweet of their ignorant little (and I mean miniscule, or even non-existent?) hearts?
Upcoming Events
Christmas Party!!!
October 13, 2025 — 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Who wants to be my plus one? LMAO. Seriously thought, I will post something about this soon. Apologies for the dropping off.
???, 2025 — TBA
Discussion of book to be announced
???, 2025 — TBA
Location, date, and book to be decided.
TO BE FIXED
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Past Meetings
How do the bans in RUCO County connect to increasing censorship from the US government?
The number of books that have been banned has escalated greatly in number and scale since 2020.
Spanning from 2001-2020, the religious groups dedicating their time to banning books were attempting to ban up to 46 titles a year; that number shot up to 4, 190 in 2024 according to data collected in the EveryLibrary Institute Report.
The people driving the bans are politically backed interest groups connected across the states, instead of singular concerned parents.
The list of books that was banned in one sitting on the ??? by the Rutherford county school system was the same list of books that Moms for Liberty in Florida wrote complaints against and advocated for the removal of in their local libraries.
The bans that were only happening in public schools and local libraries have spread to the federal level, with even colleges being threatened.
Add info about the Library of Congress, the army library, and the threats from the state against colleges, specifically MTSU, LAMBDA.
The local bans are erasing the same information that the federal bans are erasing, and more.
The school system has stated recent law passed by the Tennessee government called the “Appropriate materials act” that would remove “inappropriate material.” -add more info on it here- The Rutherford county school system used it to remove books that mention DEI characters. The Rutherford library system used an ordinance that has since been sued out of existence as their beginning reason to ban a book about a gay character from the library entirely, despite the county also adding a tiered member card system so children can’t check out books from the adult section. They’ve since created their own rules which they’ve also had to get rid of because of threats of a lawsuit from the ACLU, to ban informational books about transgender characters and sexual minorities geared towards children. The books are still missing from the shelves, and the book bans against transgender characters continue from the board.
Book Ban Breakers 