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Amid a wave of conservatives and evangelical Christians banning scores of books about race, gender, and sexuality from school systems across the country, one group of Christians in the Deep South is fighting back.
More than 15,000 Christians in Madison County, Mississippi signed their names to an open letter excoriating the mayor of the town of Ridgeland after he called for a ban on LGBTQ-themed books from the county's libraries, citing them as against "Christian beliefs."
The 15,000 Christians disagreed, and have demanded that Mayor Gene McGee release the $110,000 of library funding he has been holding hostage unless the libraries agree to ban the books.
Thousands of Christians demand Mississippi mayor stop censoring LGBT+ books in their namehttps://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/02/17/gene-mcgee-lgbt-books-madison-country-christianity/\u00a0\u2026— PinkNews (@PinkNews) 1645111080
According to Madison County library director Tonja Johnson, McGee told her the books "went against his Christian beliefs, and that he would not release the money as the long as the materials were there" and that "the library can serve whoever we wanted, but that he only serves the great Lord above."
Christians in the community were unsparing in their criticism of McGee's astonishing overreach. In the open letter and petition they assembled, they sharply criticized what they described as his misunderstanding of what it means to be a Christian.
The letter reads:
"As your fellow Christians, we object to your decision to withhold taxpayer funding from the Madison County Library System over its display of books that tell LGBTQ stories, including books by Christian authors."
"Reading about LGBTQ issues is not a threat to Christianity nor to patrons of a public, secular library. All people, including our LGBTQ neighbors, are made in the image of God, and we are to love and include them just as Jesus did."
The citizens also expressed anger over the way McGee was making Christianity appear to people in the community.
"Moreover, as a public servant, you make our faith look mean and short-sighted -- pushing people further away from Christ -- when you claim that serving God means you cannot join the library in serving all Ridgeland residents as mayor."
They closed by accusing McGee of censorship and saying it was his "civic duty" to reverse his ban.
On Twitter, people applauded the letter, and it soon gained nationwide attention.
Explicitly denying funding to the public library based on the views within its catalog can subject Mayor McGee and the City of Ridgeland to liability under federal constitutional law.\n\nRead our full letter to Ridgeland Mayor Gene McGee:https://bit.ly/34BBAbk— ACLU of Mississippi (@ACLU of Mississippi) 1644511277
Johnson is speaking directly in front of Mayor Gene McGee. "It's by providing a diverse collection with different viewpoints and perspectives that we empower families to make choices... When you take that right away from one of us, you take it away from all of us."pic.twitter.com/VKmT4xNZwy— Nick Judin (@Nick Judin) 1644970563
Again, how many of these people use the Library? They're all retirement age and waddle around making themselves mad.https://twitter.com/MSFreePress/status/1494295640221880332\u00a0\u2026— Guns are Post-Birth Abortifacients (@Guns are Post-Birth Abortifacients) 1645104954
Here's the thing @mayorgene \nIt isn't YOUR money, it's the citizens $.\nYou don't get to make arbitrary decisions without the people's vote.\nWhat you are doing is illegal.https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/02/17/gene-mcgee-lgbt-books-madison-country-christianity/\u00a0\u2026— \ud835\udcab\ud835\udc5c\ud835\udcc2\ud835\udcc2\ud835\udcb6\ud835\udccc\ud835\udc5c\ud835\udcc1\ud835\udcbb Rise Sister, Rise & Speak Up (@\ud835\udcab\ud835\udc5c\ud835\udcc2\ud835\udcc2\ud835\udcb6\ud835\udccc\ud835\udc5c\ud835\udcc1\ud835\udcbb Rise Sister, Rise & Speak Up) 1645141412
I'm not religious-but you can still be religious and choose to be cool. You don't have to go full Rt wing nutbag.https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2022/02/17/gene-mcgee-lgbt-books-madison-country-christianity/\u00a0\u2026— Totally Fucking Gay (@Totally Fucking Gay) 1645155963
<ACLU has entered the chat>https://twitter.com/ACLU_MS/status/1491814540371275779\u00a0\u2026— Sparkling, blue, wolf-like creature: Soatok, Dhole (@Sparkling, blue, wolf-like creature: Soatok, Dhole) 1644518491
I thought it would take maybe 8 or 12 years to Democratize Ridgeland, but Gene McGee may just flip it blue by 2025.https://twitter.com/nickjudin/status/1493747889935466496\u00a0\u2026— Jonathan Allen (@Jonathan Allen) 1644973495
Ridgeland, MS. Mayor Gene McGee should be removed from office for not serving the public. "Only serving the lord" makes him unfit.\n\nWithholding govt funds from a library until books are removed is unhinged Christo-fascism\n\nThankfully reason came to rescue:https://www.fundlibraries.org/ridgelandbookbanning\u00a0\u2026— Cats \u2e38 N \u2e38 Snacks (@Cats \u2e38 N \u2e38 Snacks) 1644561551
As McGee's antics continued, citizens in the area also launched a fundraiser to replace the withheld $110,000 in library funding. It exceeded its goal within days of launch.