Sarah Huckabee Sanders appoints anti-LGBTQ+ Christian nationalist to oversee state libraries

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) appointed anti-LGBTQ+ Christian nationalist Jason Rapert to her state’s library board, where he’ll help oversee the funding, development, and leadership of local public libraries. He has promised to enforce the state’s anti-LGBTQ+ book-banning law, even though it’s been blocked by courts, and to defund any libraries that sued the state to block it.

“We are fighting against the people that are putting the queer books into your school libraries and trying to groom these children into homosexuality,” Rapert, a former state senator and founder of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers (NACL), said in March while celebrating an anti-trans student state law that he said the NACL helped pass.

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“We’re pursuing school board policies to save the nation. We are standing up and have our members running bills in the halls of the state legislatures to stand up against this woke ideology, to push back against the things of the devil in our country,” he continued.

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Rapert has said that right-wing Christians must rise up and “take authority” over everything from their local school boards to the federal government. In September, he said children have been “ensnared with this LGBTQ cult,” and called queer identities and the battle for LGBTQ+ civil rights a “devil of hell,” adding, “You will not drag us through your pit.”

Christian nationalist Jason Rapert attempts to topple the "LGBTQ cult" that has allegedly taken over the country: "Let go of our reins of government in this nation! You will not drag us into your pit!" pic.twitter.com/2F2UXrKzYC

— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) September 25, 2023

In a recent interview with KTHV, Rapert pledged to enforce a law known as Act 372, which would criminally prosecute librarians and bookstore owners who refuse to remove any books that are deemed as “harmful to minors,” a vague phrase that anti-LGBTQ+ activists often use to ban books with any mention of sexual orientation or gender identity. The law also makes it easier for any single person to challenge a book, effectively removing it from shelves while it undergoes review by library, county, or city officials.

A U.S. district judge issued a temporary injunction blocking the law on July 29 after numerous libraries, bookstores, associations, readers, and patrons sued. The challengers called the law badly written and vague and said that it violated readers’ and authors’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights to access and distribute content with unpopular views without undue government interference.

Nevertheless, Rapert has said he’ll use his new position to deny federal and state funds to any library that joined the successful lawsuit to block the law. This would include the Fayetteville Public Library, Eureka Springs Carnegie Library, the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS), and possibly libraries where various individual librarians joined the lawsuit. Collectively, these institutions serve hundreds of thousands of readers in the state.

“When you turn around and sue the State of Arkansas, who are responsible for extending funding to you, that’s a problem,” Rapert said. “And we want to make sure that people are doing right.”

Republican State Senator Brian King said he wants to call a vote to possibly reject Rapert’s joining the board. The legislature’s rule committee is expected to hold confirmation votes for Sanders’ new appointees in December.

“When you start withholding funds to a particular entity, you’re withholding funds to a lot of different other things too,” King told the news station.

Regardless of what happens, Sanders is likely to consider pursuing anti-LGBTQ+ policies in an attempt to consolidate conservative power in her state.

In October, Sanders issued an executive order banning “woke,” gender-inclusive language in government communications.

In March, Sanders also signed a “Don’t Say Gay” law, banning classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation before fifth grade, as well as another bill allowing anyone who received gender-affirming care as a minor to sue their doctor up to 15 years after they turn 18. In February, she signed a bill reclassifying drag performances as adult-oriented entertainment.