The Louisiana Supreme Court has revived a lawsuit between a high school librarian and angry parents who accused her of promoting pornography and “erotic content” to children.
Amanda Jones, the school librarian at Live Oak Middle School, sued Citizens for a New Louisiana, leader Michael Lunsford and parent Ryan Thames for defamation in 2022.
Her lawsuit, seen by DailyMail.com, claimed they publicly accused her of promoting porn and “erotic content” to minors by placing “inappropriate” books in the “children’s section” of her library.
The controversial books involved in this discussion include “Dating and Sex: A Guide for the 21st Century Teen Boy” by Andrew P. Smiler and “Let’s Talk About It: The Teen’s Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human’ by Erika Moen. and Matthew Nolan.
The lawsuit was dismissed that same year, but Jones’ appeal reached the state Supreme Court, which threw out the verdict Friday and sent the case back to the appeals court for reconsideration.
“Before all this, I was just a school librarian, but they wanted to silence me, so I thought I would do the exact opposite and become an activist,” Jones said. The New York Times.
‘What we are seeing now are large-scale attacks on people’s characters when they stand up for books. The level of hate and vitriol is unreal to me.”
The ordeal began when Jones spoke out about book bans at the Livingston Parish Library board meeting on July 19, 2022. She immediately faced backlash — and people online began attacking her for defending literature.
Librarian Amanda Jones (pictured) was accused of promoting pornography and ‘erotic content’ to children
Jones sued Citizens for a New Louisiana’s leader Michael Lunsford (pictured) for defamation after they posted on social media claiming they were exposing sexualized material for children
During the meeting, a board member expressed concerns about books for children and teens with “inappropriate” content.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, Jones criticized the banning of books from the library.
She said: ‘Just because you don’t want to read or see it doesn’t give you the right to refuse others or demand its relocation.
“If we remove or move books with LGBTQ or sexual health content, what message are we sending to our community members?”
Within days, Jones said her social media was flooded with messages accusing her of sexualizing children.
“Here’s Amanda Jones at the Livingston Parish Library board meeting on Tuesday, July 19, 2022,” Citizens for a New Louisiana wrote in a Facebook message to Law&Crime.
“Why is she fighting so hard to keep sexually erotic and pornographic material in the children’s ward?” The content in question is so awful that The Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA) won’t even print it! … How would she influence what your six-year-old toddler sees in the library of your local SCHOOL?”
In another post, Jones was accused of “advocating teaching anal sex to 11-year-olds,” according to The Times.
The online abuse prompted Jones to launch the legal battle, as she admitted that two years later she still can’t leave her house to go grocery shopping because of the alleged defamation.
Jones faced backlash from the community when she spoke out about book bans at the Livingston Parish Library board meeting on July 19, 2022.
Controversial books included “Let’s Talk About It: The Teen’s Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human” by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan
Pages in ‘Let’s Talk About It’ Show Images of Two Women Being Intimate and Discussing ‘Check-in’ Words
Another page contains drawings of genitals to represent the “different ways to have sex.”
The Live Oak Middle School librarian (pictured) faced backlash from the community when she spoke out about book bans at the Livingston Parish Library board meeting on July 19, 2022.
Images in ‘Let’s Talk About It’ – one of the controversial books – include drawings of genitalia and a comic strip of two women engaging in intimacy and discussing ‘check-in words’ such as ‘lubey enough?’ and ‘I want to change positions.’
In the Frequently Asked Questions section of ‘Dating and Sex’ the author discusses the length of the average penis during erection and masturbation.
“That book is a comic book style book…with vivid depictions of genitalia, the performance of sexual acts, and instructions for using new adult toys,” Lunsford told Law&Crime on “Let’s Talk About It.”
“Louisiana Revised Statute makes it clear that most, if not all, of this type of content is clearly not appropriate for storage in the children’s section of the library.
“The fact that anyone would stand up and defend that this material should be in the children’s department just blows my mind.”
In January, Lunsford told supporters in a fundraising email that Jones had tried to prevent them from disclosing explicit material to their children.
“Just to bring you up to date, when we discovered erotic material in several children’s sections of local public libraries, we were sued by a librarian,” the email said.
“She wanted the court to issue a gag order to prevent us from telling you about these vulgar materials, how they got there and who was in favor of leaving them there.”
Jones has achieved fame since the board meeting, including publishing her own memoir
Another controversial book was ‘Dating and Sex: A Guide for the 21st Century Teen Boy’ by Andrew P. Smiler
In the Frequently Asked Questions section of ‘Dating and Sex’, the author discusses the length of the average erect penis
The author said it is not possible to masturbate too much in the FAQ section of ‘Dating and Sex’
Jones’ attorney, Alysson Mills, said WBRZ they look forward to their day in court and presenting the case to a jury.
“I believe that a jury of ordinary citizens, when they hear what happened to her, would want to hold the defendants accountable. The First Amendment does not protect falsehoods,” Mills said.
State Supreme Court Justice Jefferson Hughes said in a unanimous opinion that the burden of proof in the case lies with Lunsford and his group.
“If defendants (Lunsford) can prove that plaintiff (Jones) did the things they allege, then truth is a defense. If they can’t do that, they’ve brought the plaintiff into disrepute,” Hughes said.
“Defendants have publicly stated that Plaintiff ‘promoted pornography and erotic content to children’ and ‘advocated teaching anal sex to 11-year-olds.’ If the plaintiff did not perform these actions, she cannot provide negative evidence.
“The burden will rest on the shoulders of the defendants that plaintiff did indeed perform the actions they publicly accused her of.”
Two years later, Jones told the Times that she still felt like an outcast in her town and that she no longer left her house to run errands and go to church.
“I’m the town pariah now,” Jones said. ‘I’m called a pervert. I can’t go shopping or go to the store without being yelled at.’
In one post, Jones was accused of ‘advocating teaching anal sex to 11-year-olds’
However, Jones has achieved fame since the board meeting, including awards such as the Intellectual Freedom Award from the American Association of School Librarians and the Alex Allain Intellectual Freedom Award from the Louisiana Library Association in 2023.
Oprah Winfrey praised her at the 2023 National Book Awards Ceremony, and Oprah Daily published an excerpt from Jones’ newly released memoir, That Librarian, in August.
DailyMail.com contacted Jones’ attorney for comment.