A conservative library’s ban on LGBTQ pride flags has backfired after a patron hit back by using its own rules to advocate for the Bible to be removed from shelves.
Brian Roorda of St Peters, Missouri, argued the holy book should be removed from St Charles City-County Library’s branches due to the prevalence of violence in the text.
He said he is mounting the challenge to remove the King James Version of the Bible in response to the library’s anti-LGBTQ stance.
‘I don’t actually want the Bible banned,’ Roorda told the St Louis Post-Dispatch. ‘I don’t believe in banning books.’
As evidence of the text’s violence, he cited a verse from the Book of Matthew in the New Testament which suggests that anyone who causes a believer of Jesus Christ to sin should have a ‘large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.’
The library board of trustees will review Roorda’s challenge on Tuesday evening – marking the first time an appeal has reached the board since the district implemented new rules on book bans in July last year.
St Charles City-County Library has almost one million physical books, including copies of the Quran and Torah, across 11 branches.
Roorda said on Monday that he wanted to stand against the library’s decision to ban the LGBTQ pride flag, which also meant employees would not be allowed to wear rainbow pins.
St Charles City-County Library’s ban on LGBT Q pride flags has backfired after one patron hit back by using its own rules to advocate for the Bible to be removed from its shelves
A committee initially voted to retain the Bible. The trustees can decide on Tuesday to uphold the committee’s decision, hold a public hearing on the matter, or refer it to library CEO John Greifzu (pictured) for further review
He said the decision was made at a meeting in March, in which the trustees refused to extend the public comment period beyond 30 minutes to accommodate the large line of people who had turned out to oppose the decision.
Roorda said he has supported the library for years, but he was turned off by this behavior.
‘The library trustees have all the time in the world to listen to people wanting to ban books, but they didn’t even have the decency to extend the time to hear from those of us wanting to speak,’ he told the Post-Dispatch. ‘I just want equal time as the book banners.’
He said the LGBTQ flag decision was made after a woman complained about an unnamed library employee wearing makeup, nail polish and a goatee.
Roorda claimed a verse from the Book of Matthew was then used as a threat against the employee, which is why he chose a quote from the same verse to make his counter-challenge.
He made the initial challenge on June 30, which prompted a library committee to review the Bible. They voted to retain the book in the adult nonfiction collection.
However, Roorda appealed the committee’s decision, escalating his request to the library’s trustees.
The trustees can decide on Tuesday to uphold the committee’s decision, hold a public hearing on the matter, or refer it to library CEO John Greifzu for further review.
Six out of the nine trustees would need to vote in favor of banning the Bible for it to be removed.
Patron Brian Roorda said he launched the challenge against the holy book to make a statement about the library’s anti-LGBTQ stance, not because he wants to start banning books
In March the library brougt in a ban on the LGBTQ pride flag, which also meant employees would not be allowed to wear rainbow pins
The library has become a hub for local tensions between progressives and conservatives in recent years.
In 2023, the library saw a huge surge in complaints from conservative activists and parents who wanted to ban more than a dozen books.
The Post-Dispatch reported that among the books petitioned were ‘It’s Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, Gender and Sexual Health,’ ‘My Mom’s Having a Baby,’ and ‘Bye, Bye Binary.’
‘What’s Happening to My Body? A Book for Boys,’ ‘The Little Coven,’ and ‘If You’re A Drag Queen and You Know It’ were also challenged.
One customer also challenged Japanese-language anime film ‘Penguin Highway’ over concerns it was not age-appropriate for the youth movie collection
The district only removed one challenged book, ‘Bang Like A Pornstar: Sex Tips from the Pros,’ from the collection.
