Showing posts with label Mississippi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mississippi. Show all posts

Friday, January 28, 2022

Ridgeland Mayor Demands LGBTQ+ Book Purge, Threatens Library Funding; Mississippi Free Press, January 25, 2022

Nick Judin Mississippi Free Press; Ridgeland Mayor Demands LGBTQ+ Book Purge, Threatens Library Funding

"Ridgeland Mayor Gene McGee is withholding $110,000 of funding from the Madison County Library System allegedly on the basis of his personal religious beliefs, with library officials stating that he has demanded that the system initiate a purge of LGBTQ+ books before his office releases the money.

Tonja Johnson, executive director for the Madison County Library System, told the Mississippi Free Press in an afternoon interview that she first reached out to Mayor McGee after failing to receive the City of Ridgeland’s first quarterly payment of 2022.

Johnson said the mayor informed her that no payment was forthcoming. “He explained his opposition to what he called ‘homosexual materials’ in the library, that it went against his Christian beliefs, and that he would not release the money as the long as the materials were there,” the library director said.

The director then explained to the mayor that the library system, as a public entity, was not a religious institution. “I explained that we are a public library and we serve the entire community. I told him our collection reflects the diversity of our community,” Johnson said."

Sunday, April 10, 2016

Leading businesses take stand against states' new anti-LGBT laws; Guardian, 4/10/16

Edward Helmore and Matt Kessler, Guardian; Leading businesses take stand against states' new anti-LGBT laws:
"Local business leaders and educators warned that the legislation could harm the state’s competitiveness in attracting business and investment. “These assholes talk about gay women and gay men using the exact same language they were using in the 50s and 60s for segregationist purposes,” said the award-winning chef John Currence, owner of several restaurants in Oxford, Mississippi. He warned that Mississippi’s HB1523, known as the Religious Liberty Accommodation Act, would put businesses off from setting up in the state.
“When people see this kind of regressive social politics going on, it affects the quality of life”, he said. The new laws, he added, “could not be any more vile or regressive”.
Ivo Kamps, a University of Mississippi English professor, warned the law “will have a chilling effect on our ability to recruit students and faculty”, despite the university chancellor’s assurance that nothing would change...
Academics say the current legislation, combined with the Citizens United bill of 2010 that in effect gave corporations the rights of citizens, has placed corporations at the forefront of efforts to contain the spread of ideologically extreme legislation."