Hate pastor’s plan to remove all LGBTQ+ library books could backfire spectacularly

A pastor in Witchita, Kansas encouraged his followers to check out LGBTQ+-themed books from local libraries to keep people of all ages from reading them. However, a local librarian says the pastor’s plan may backfire since the library uses check-out information to determine the popularity of certain books and to order similar books from the same topic area.

“One way you can love your neighbors and your community is to gather together some of the men in your church and go empty the local library of all their LGBTQ+ books,” Kyle Lammott, lead pastor of Exodus Church in east Wichita, wrote in a recent post on Instagram. “Start with the kids’ books and work your way up.”

Related: A GOP lawmaker’s wife is taking LGBTQ+ books out of free libraries & leaving Bibles

She said she found one full of “Pride stuff” and that she’s replacing the “terrible” books with Bibles and “devotion books.”

Lammott’s post included a photo of over 100 books checked out of the Andover Public Library. The books included “dozens of young adult novels with LGBTQ characters or themes,” according to National Public Radio (NPR), as well as books about the Black Lives Matter movement and an autobiography of lesbian tennis star Billie Jean King.

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The pastor declined an interview with NPR and didn’t say whether he’ll return the books to the library. The library allows patrons to check out up to 50 books for a three-week period. If the books aren’t returned by then, the person is charged for the materials. Lammott made his Instagram account private after the publication of NPR’s report, the gay news site Joe My God noted.

Tom Taylor, director of the Andover library, and other local librarians said Lammott’s queerphobia might backfire because, “When there’s a high demand and usage of books, those are the ones we want to keep and even replace if they get damaged or not returned,” Taylor said.

“If the strategy is to get them away from kids, in the short term it would work. But in the long run, we’d be more likely to buy those titles because of the usage,” Taylor added. Checkouts indicate demand for certain kinds of materials, and libraries track demand and tend to order other materials related to popular subject areas as they replenish their collections, NPR reported.

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