NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — According to the Tennessee Equality Project, of the top nine books facing the most scrutiny in public and school libraries, seven contain LGBTQ themes or were written by LGBTQ authors.
In a newly released report and toolkit titled, "Book Censorship in Tennessee" the LGBTQ+ advocacy group wrote, "Tennessee’s public libraries, public schools, and the professionals who manage them are being attacked by well-funded censorship campaigns and bad actors."
The report's author, Aly Chapman, watched more than 50 hours of school board and local municipality meetings and read hundreds of documents, and interviewed advocates in Tennessee counties with the most book challenges.
"There's a lot of politicizing of the of the issue," Chapman said.
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She said challenges came from elected leaders, outside groups, or private citizens depending on the county. However, the arguments against keeping these books on shelves were consistent.
"Their similar language has to do with protecting children. Like I said, biblical references. They refer to things like gender ideology," Chapman said.
The Wilson County chapter of Moms for Liberty supports the removal of some books from library shelves, but said they are not doing so to stifle LGBTQ representation.
"Moms for Liberty is not interested in banning LGBTQ representation from libraries. That is a straw man to detract from the extreme sexually explicit material that has been distributed to minors without parental knowledge or consent," said Chapter Chair Amanda Price.
Crossroads Ministries' Holly Ashley shares Price's views that certain books don't belong in school libraries but has taken a different approach to challenging them. Ashley has donated more than 500 gospel-themed books to Wilson County Schools, in hopes kids looking for books with LGBTQ themes or information on social justice will find those new books instead.
"Well, we believe that the Bible is the final authority, right? So if you're going to have an issue that you want to debate with someone with biblical values, in the middle of the Bible Belt, then you need to have some books with biblical doctrine in them. You can't just be one-sided," Ashley said.
The report also includes other observations including the amount of time these book debates take.
In Wilson County, the report found 25% of meeting time has been spent on book restrictions, according to recorded meeting minutes.
The Tennessee Equality Project also surveyed state librarians and found that 35% of them say they've seen increases in book challenges.
The report also includes a call for more transparency from local governments when it comes to book restrictions and a toolkit for people who want to be more involved in school board and municipality meetings.
