A Louisiana librarian is suing two men for defamation over posts and memes they shared to Facebook.
In her lawsuit, Amanda Jones of the Louisiana Association of School Librarians alleges two owners of separate Facebook groups, Michael Lunsford and Ryan Thames created a “public campaign to defame” her by posting her photo and tagging her. These posts came after Jones attended a Livingston Parish Library Board of Control meeting Jul 19 to argue against censoring book content.
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“While book challenges are often done with the best intentions, and in the name of age appropriateness, they often target marginalized communities such as BIPOC and the. LBGTQ community,” Jones said at the meeting. “All members of our community deserve to be seen, have access to information, and see themselves, in our PUBLIC library collection. Censoring and relocating books and displays is harmful to our community, but will be extremely harmful to our most vulnerable —our children.”
“Why is she fighting so hard to keep sexually erotic and pornographic materials in the kid’s section?” Lunsford wrote on his Facebook page “Citizens for a New Louisiana” the next day. “The content in question is so very terrible that The Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA) won’t even print it!”
Lunsford’s post garnered 165 reactions, 450 comments, and 146 shares.
Thames would go on to create a number of memes featuring Jones on his “Bayou State of Mind” page, the most notable of which included a picture of Jones sitting behind a desk with a caption that read she advocated teaching anal sex to 11-year-olds. That post has since been removed from the platform, but Jones alleges Thames continued to post about her.
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Jones is seeking a “Permanent Injunction, enjoining Defendants from harassing and defaming Plaintiff, Compensatory damages, including damages for emotional distress, Punitive Damages and Attorney’s fees and court costs” in her suit.
