Background: Louisiana librarian Amanda Jones (WBRZ/YouTube). Inset: Courtroom in Louisiana (WBRZ/YouTube).
The Louisiana Supreme Court is allowing a defamation lawsuit filed by a librarian accused of promoting pornography and “erotic contents” to children to be reheard, saying she has a right to have the “very specific allegations” hurled against her two years ago proven in court by her accusers after the case was tossed out due to a late appeal.
“If defendants can prove that plaintiff did the things they claim, then the truth is a defense,” wrote Justice Jefferson D. Hughes III in a Dec. 27 writ of certiorari to Louisiana’s First Circuit Court of Appeal in agreement with the Supreme Court‘s 4-2 decision that Friday. “If they cannot, they have defamed the plaintiff.”
The group that brought the allegations forth against Livingston Parish librarian Amanda Jones — Citizens for a New Louisiana — was sued by Jones in 2022, along with executive director Michael Lunsford, for defamation after they publicly accused her of promoting porn and “erotic contents” to minors by placing “inappropriate” books in the “kid’s section” of her library. Jones says she was attacked after speaking up at a public meeting about library censorship that year. She filed a petition for damages for defamation and requested injunctive relief against Citizens for a New Louisiana, Lunsford and a local resident named Ryan Thames, who has a child in the Livingston Parish school system and operates a Facebook page called Bayou State of Mind, which shared the allegations about Jones.
In response, the defendants filed motions with the trial court to dismiss Jones’ case, which was done with prejudice, according to court documents viewed by Law&Crime, after the judge ruled that Jones “stated and advocated for having books with sexual and reproductive information to be kept where they were, for the benefit of the youth of our community,” in addition to her being deemed a public figure for her anti-censorship activism.
Jones later filed an appeal for a new trial, which was denied in January on account of her filing it past the required deadline. The lower court must now rehear her case on account of the Supreme Court decision.
“She missed it, and now she apparently didn’t miss it, so it looks like we’re back to the First Circuit,” Lunsford told Law&Crime on Monday. “Even though the lower court has already ruled.”
Lunsford claims his group was simply speaking the truth about Jones and what she was allegedly doing when they posted about her on social media.
“Here is Amanda Jones at the Livingston Parish Library board meeting on Tuesday, July 19, 2022,” Citizens for a New Louisiana wrote in a Facebook post provided to Law&Crime in screenshots by Lunsford, which he says was deemed defamatory by Jones in the lower court.
“Why is she fighting so hard to keep sexually erotic and pornographic materials in the kid’s section?” the post asked. “The content in question is so very terrible that The Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA) won’t even print it! … What kind of influence would she have over what your six-year-old kindergartner sees in your local SCHOOL’s library?”
Two of the books in question at the time, according to Lunsford, were “Dating and Sex: A Guide for the 21st Century Teen Boy” by Andrew P. Smiler — which he claims “includes instructions and infographics on various sex acts” — and “Let’s Talk About It: The Teen’s Guide to Sex, Relationships, and Being a Human” by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan.
“That book is a comic-style book … with vivid depictions of genitalia, the performance of sex acts, as well as instructions for using adult novelty toys,” Lunsford told Law&Crime on Monday about “Let’s Talk About It,” which is described by Random House Children’s Books as a “comprehensive, thoughtful, well-researched graphic novel guide to everything you need to know” as a teen.
“Louisiana Revised Statute 25:225 makes clear that most, if not all, of this type of content is clearly not suitable for shelving in the library children’s section,” Lunsford said. “The fact that anyone would stand up and defend that this material should be in the children’s section just blows my mind.”
Jones’ lawyer, Alysson Mills, could not be reached for comment by Law&Crime, but she did provide a statement to local ABC affiliate WBRZ on Saturday, saying she and Jones looked forward to presenting her defamation case in court to jurors after her lawsuit was dismissed in 2022 before evidence was shown.
“The defendants have said that she wants to teach kids how to have anal sex, actually they say she does teach kids how to have anal sex,” Mills told the outlet. “It is incredibly damaging for someone who has devoted her entire career to the education of our children.”
While Jones has used the allegations against her to promote issues around librarians and anti-censorship — earning herself a shoutout from Oprah Winfrey — Mills said that’s not what her lawsuit is about.
“I would like to say this a hundred times, our lawsuit does not ask any court or jury to pick a side in the book debate,” Mills insisted.
Jones, herself, told WBRZ, “All I’m asking for is $1 and an apology. I believe in free speech, but free speech doesn’t mean you get to make up lies about someone. I am looking forward to holding these men accountable for their malicious actions.”
