A preacher wants LGBTQ+ books banned at Coast libraries. Can that happen in Mississippi?
Coast advocacy groups are taking action in a fight to keep LGBTQ+ inclusive books on the shelves at Biloxi libraries after residents complained at a recent City Council meeting.
Two people asked council members on Tuesday to remove children’s books about transgender people from the Margaret S. Sherry Memorial Library.
“I was shocked ... not knowing this was on our Coast,” Colleen Tucker said. “I am opposed to this kind of indoctrination of children.”
The Rev. Blair Bradley, pastor for the Covenant of Peace Church in Harrison County, spoke after Tucker and said the books in relation to transgender people are “horrible.”
“They are targeting children,” Bradley said. He then compared parents of transgender children to pedophiles.
“They can’t change their sex,” he said. “And they can’t because nature and biology says they cant.”
Bradley was asked several times to end his comments after going over time. Bradley’s church is also on John Clark Road in the Gulfport area and not inside Biloxi city limits. It’s unclear if he lives in Biloxi.
LGBTQ member speaks out against banning books
E. W. Suarez, a Ward 3 resident and a member of the LGTBQ+ community, followed Tucker and Bradley.
Suarez, who identified as a public servant, said their mother worked for the city of Biloxi for decades under three mayors. They also are known as Estelle Suarez, a well-known drag queen who was crowned Miss Gulf Coast Pride in 2018.
“I am one of the abominations that these concerned citizens are speaking of,” Suarez said. “I have been an LGTBQ+ person as long as I can remember. I have been this way my entire life.”
Suarez argued media does not change a person’s sexual orientation and pointed out that they had been exposed to heterosexual media for their entire life, but did not identify as heterosexual.
“Guess what, it did not take…if it did, I would be married and miserable with children,” Suarez said. “Every person that has ever damaged me was a heterosexual male, not a gay person.”
Suarez implored the need for LGBTQ+ books to remain on the shelves as a resource for children on the Coast, and said they have voted in every local election in recent time and will continue to vote.
There is no evidence to suggest that LGBTQ+ books can affect sexual orientation children, experts say.
Advocacy group takes action against banning books
The effort to get LGBTQ+ books out of Biloxi libraries is part of a wave of challenges and book bans happening across the U.S., said advocacy group Mississippi Rights Coalition.
The group has created a Facebook event and is asking the public to go to the Harrison County Library Systems Board of Trustees meeting Monday to advocate for keeping books on the shelves.
“Their efforts to challenge and ban books at public libraries is part of a wave of challenges and book bans that is happening across the nation in schools and public libraries and coincides with conservative state legislators attempts to censor language, books, and school curriculum on sexual orientation, gender identity, and race, and racism,” Mississippi Rising Coalition said on Facebook.
There’s also a petition community members can sign to support keeping LGBTQ+ books on shelves in Harrison County.
“Now is the time for action,” the MRC said. “We must stop this in our own community. We must work together to ensure that the Mississippi Gulf Coast is a safe and inclusive space for all.”
Process for removing books from MS libraries
The Harrison County Library System does have a process that citizens can avail themselves of if they wish a book or books removed from the library shelves.
“It’s called a request for reconsideration of material,” explained Harrison County Library Director Sarah Crisler-Ruskey. “The form asks different questions about the book, have you read it, what do you object to and the basic details of why they think it’s inappropriate.”
Crisler-Ruskey said as of Wednesday she has not received any such request pertaining to any LGTBQ+ books at the library.
Once the form is filed out, library staff discuss if the book meets the library’s “collection development policy,” which describes how the library chooses what is in the library.
The policy is laid out over several pages in the Library Policy Manual and goes into detail about what is to be put on the library shelves.
“Selection of materials for the collection does not constitute an endorsement of the item’s content, and HCLS seeks to provide representation of a broad variety of perspectives and interpretations in order to serve its patrons,” reads the policy.
Crisler-Ruskey said that it is relatively uncommon for people to go through this process and that it has only happened a couple times during her tenure.
“If people have an issue with things, they need to take it through the proper process … we’re Biloxi we aren’t Harrison County,” said Ward 2 councilman Felix Gines. “The library is a need and a service to our community.”
Crisler-Ruskey said although she has not received a formal request for reconciliation, she did receive a request to speak at the upcoming library board meeting.
The board will meet at noon Monday at the West Biloxi Library on Pass Road.
This story was originally published July 22, 2022 at 6:50 AM with the headline "A preacher wants LGBTQ+ books banned at Coast libraries. Can that happen in Mississippi?."