A Tennessee library director has been fired after she refused to relocate more than 100 LGBTQ+-themed children’s titles to the library system’s adult section.

The Rutherford county library board on Monday voted to fire Luanne James following a heated emergency meeting that involved supporters of hers chanting “We stand with Luanne!” while wearing shirts that read “Protect the freedom to read.”

The meeting also drew detractors of James, with one person saying: “Their goal is not trying to get their own kids the books but trying to get it into our kids’ hands – and the things that they’re feeding in these books are just straight lies.”

Ahead of her ouster, James firmly stood by her decision, saying: “I am not going to change my mind.”

In an email sent to the Rutherford county library system board earlier in March, James criticized the board’s order to relocate the children’s titles, saying: “Restricting access to these materials through subjective relocation or removal constitutes a violation of the community’s right to information and a direct infringement on the principles of free speech.”

She added: “Our libraries are funded by and for the citizens; therefore, the right to access information – free from government interference – is a protected hallmark of our democracy.

“My duty to protect public access is not merely a personal opinion; it is a core tenet of the American Library Association’s code of ethics. As an arm of the county government, the board cannot legally limit the public’s access to materials owned by the people based on the content of the ideas expressed with them.”

James said that she would not comply with the board’s order, stating that doing so would violate the constitutional first amendment right to free speech “of all citizens of Rutherford county and myself”.

“Consequently,” she added, “I would compromise my professional obligation to oppose government-mandated viewpoint discrimination.”

Meanwhile, the library’s board chair, Cody York, defended the body’s decision, saying: “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.”

Claims like York’s – particularly the framing of gender-affirming care for minors as the “dismembering” of body parts – are common anti-trans talking points among conservatives.

However, they have been widely debunked by healthcare professionals, who emphasize that gender-affirming care exists on a broad spectrum that primarily includes mental health support and – in some cases – reversible treatments such as puberty blockers. Many hospitals do not offer surgical interventions to minors at all.

After James’s firing, the director of PEN America’s Freedom to Read program, Kasey Meehan, said the dismissed director “demonstrated her deep commitment to the freedom to read and the principles of librarianship, at a steep cost”.

“Her story will echo … across the country as emblematic of the fight against censorship and suppression,” Meehan said, as the Tennessee Advocate reported.

Amid a nationwide rise in book bans and broader attacks targeting LGBTQ+ communities, including more than 500 hostile legislative bills, librarians from at least half a dozen states have joined forces with civil rights groups to push back. That has included working to protect LGBTQ+ rights and challenging what those librarians and their allies call a “manufactured crisis”.

More than 500 authors and book industry professionals have signed an open letter calling on Waterstones to reverse a decision to dismiss an employee who said she would tear up and throw away books written by a gender-critical author.

Figures including Chocolat author Joanne Harris, writer and podcaster Dorian Lynskey, and author and culture journalist Jason Okundaye have backed Tilly Fitzgerald, who posts book-related content and reviews under the username TillyLovesBooks on social media. Fitzgerald was sacked after responding to a post on X by author Christina Dalcher, which appeared to endorse a publishing network for those “concerned about the impact of gender ideology” on the sector. Fitzgerald wrote: “Ooh, I’ll enjoy tearing up your books and popping them in the bin today. Thanks for the heads up.”

Fitzgerald, who had worked for Waterstones as a bookseller since August 2023, explained in a video posted on 8 July that Waterstones had sacked her over her social media activity. “I’ve just been sacked from the only job I’ve ever loved,” she said.

“I told [Dalcher] on Twitter that I was going to throw away her books after I found out that she was a bigot”, Fitzgerald added. “She tagged Waterstones and they have decided to fire me for my social media usage. It’s the first mistake I’ve ever made, I’ve been nothing but an exemplary employee there”.

A spokesperson from Waterstones said Fitzgerald was dismissed “on the grounds of contravening Waterstones policies” and that the decision “has nothing to do with transgender rights”.

“We are an inclusive employer and follow due process in HR matters,” the spokesperson told the Guardian. “For obvious reasons we are unable to comment on the specifics of individual cases.”

Fitzgerald told the Guardian: “My intention responding to Dalcher was only to let her know that I would no longer be supporting her books in my personal capacity as a reviewer.”

The open letter, which was published by British comedy script writer Sara Gibbs, said that its signatories “feel it is an egregious error to terminate the employment of a dedicated, passionate and knowledgeable bookseller for expressing a personal opinion about an author and their work on their social media page.”

“We would like to express support and solidarity with Tilly, and to urge Waterstones to do the right thing and reinstate her,” the letter goes on to say.

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Dalcher, whose books include Vox and Femlandia, declined to comment.