Subsequently, the CFNL repeatedly targeted Jones not only in social media posts, but also through public information requests sent to Jones’ employer. The complaint alleges that the organization had requested such information five times, including requests for her personnel records and copies of all ingoing and outgoing emails.
Thames, meanwhile, operates a separate Facebook page called “Bayou State of Mind,” on which he has also repeatedly claimed that Jones was “sexually tareting children; was providing guidance for middle schools to teach oral and anal sex; and was grooming children to be sexually molested.’” Such posts reportedly circulated “around social media and across the country for weeks,” according to the complaint.
Both defendants have also allegedly published Jones’ place of employment in social media posts and have threatened to show up there. “Plaintiff’s safety, as well as the safety of her colleagues and the children whom they are bound to protect, are in immediate danger of irreparable harm because of Defendants’ ongoing actions,” the complaint reads.
Jones is requesting a temporary restraining order that would prohibit the defendants from making any mention of her on social media, contacting her in any way, and coming within 100 yards of her. Additionally, the defendants would have to remove all references to Jones from their social media posts. Jones is also requesting a hearing and a preliminary injunction that would prevent the defendants from harassing her in the meantime. Ultimately, she is hoping for a permanent injunction, compensatory and punitive damages, and the attorney’s fees and other court costs.
“I’ve had enough for everybody,” Jones said in an interview with NBC News. “Nobody stands up to these people. They just say what they want and there are no repercussions and they ruin people’s reputations and there’s no consequences.”
Sadly, Jones is far from the only librarian who has been targeted in such a way. Stochastic terrorism has become a new favored technique of anti-LGBTQ+ conservatives, as demonstrated by the Twitter account Libs of TikTok, which similarly targets individuals who have expressed support for LGBTQ+ people and culture, potentially endangering them.
Libraries themselves have become a focal point of right-wing ire. Drag Queen Story Hour events, in which local drag queens read out loud to children, have come under increasing attack this year. One such reading in California’s Bay Area was raided by the far right group the Proud Boys in June, followed by two similar attempted attacks the following week. Similarly to the smears against Jones, opponents of such family-friendly events claim that drag is inherently inappropriate for children, with some even claiming that having children at drag events constitutes “sexualizing young children.”
Whether it’s drag queens wearing an outfit that any child could see a cis woman wearing at the beach or graphic novel memoirs about nonbinary people, it’s clear that what the right considers “pornographic” and worthy of censorship has very little to do with “protecting children,” and much more to do with eradicating LGBTQ+ people from public life.
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