Tennessee GOP Pushes ‘Book Purge’ as Libraries Shut and Courts Loom

Public libraries across Tennessee are closing their doors, not for renovations or budget cuts, but to comb their shelves for children’s books with LGBTQ+ characters. The sweeping review—dubbed a “book purge” by critics—marks the latest escalation in the Tennessee GOP’s campaign against what they call “gender ideology,” even as book bans face growing legal challenges nationwide.

State Order Sparks Library Closures and National Backlash

The shutdowns stem from two letters sent this fall by Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett to the 181 libraries in the Tennessee Regional Library System. According to reporting from Popular Information and Common Dreams, Hargett warned libraries that to keep state and federal grants, they must comply with a state ban on diversity, equity, and inclusion offices and with former President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting federal funds used to “promote gender ideology.”

Neither the Tennessee law nor Trump’s order mentions library books. Federal grants to Tennessee libraries also do not fund book purchases, instead supporting online databases and catalog systems. The EveryLibrary Institute argued that Hargett’s directive “likely exceed[s] the secretary’s authority” and reflects a political agenda rather than a neutral reading of the law. Free speech experts at Middle Tennessee State University’s Free Speech Center noted that the state’s age-appropriateness law was written for school libraries and obscenity standards, not public library picture books.

One children’s title singled out by the secretary of state is Fred Gets Dressed by Peter Brown, a 2021 picture book featuring a boy who enjoys trying on his parents’ clothes. Critics say treating such stories as “gender ideology” weaponizes bureaucratic rules against everyday representation.

Tennessee Becomes a National Book-Ban Hotspot

Tennessee’s latest moves land in the middle of a historic surge in book bans. PEN America has tracked nearly 23,000 school book bans since 2021, with a nearly 200% jump in the 2023–2024 school year alone. (PEN America) A recent PEN report found Tennessee logged 1,622 bans between July 2024 and June 2025, trailing only Florida and Texas. (PEN America)

Many of the most frequently banned books nationwide come from household names like Stephen King, Judy Blume, Sarah J. Maas, Anthony Burgess, and Jodi Picoult. (AP News) PEN America’s data shows that 36% of banned titles feature characters of color and 25% include LGBTQ+ representation, undermining claims that bans strictly target explicit sexual content. (PEN America)

The mounting restrictions have already drawn courtroom scrutiny in other states. A Missouri judge recently struck down a school book ban law as unconstitutional, a major victory for free expression advocates documented in our coverage of that Missouri ruling. We’ve also reported on how Georgia students and community members are fighting back against censorship through creative protests like a reading bowl-turned-book-ban protest.

Publishers, Librarians, and Readers Push Back

In Tennessee, resistance is building. A coalition of 33 publishers, library groups, and civil rights organizations—including PEN America, the American Library Association, the National Coalition Against Censorship, GLAAD, Penguin Random House, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster—sent a letter to Hargett expressing “profound concern” over the mandated reviews. They warn that such policies invite “illegal censorship” and expose local communities to legal risk. (PEN America)

Local advocates, like the Rutherford County Library Alliance, say they are already seeing “library closures during story time, intimidation of professional librarians, and the breakdown of democratic representation in our public library system.” Their message to the state is blunt: it is illegal to remove books from public libraries simply because some people dislike them—a principle rooted in decades of First Amendment case law.

For book lovers, authors, and librarians, Tennessee’s “book purge” is more than a local skirmish. With bans increasingly normalized and concentrated on stories about LGBTQ+ people and communities of color, the fight over those shelves is quickly becoming a test of who gets to see themselves in the pages at all.