LGBTQ Flag Ban Backfires at Missouri Library, Which Now Faces Vote to Ban the Bible

St. Charles City-County Library in Missouri is being called to ban the King James Version of the Bible due to depictions of acts of violence in an attempt to challenge the library’s ban on LGBTQ pride flags.

St. Peters resident Brian Roorda is pushing for the removal of the religious text in a stand against the organization’s anti-LGBTQ stance, claiming he doesn’t “actually want the Bible banned.”

“I don’t believe in banning books,” Roorda told the St Louis Post-Dispatch for a story published on Tuesday, August 18.

He specifically cited a passage in the Book of Matthew that states that anyone who causes a Christ follower to sin should “be drowned in the depths of the sea” with a “large millstone around their neck.”

According to Roorda, the Pride flag was banned after a library patron complained about a male employee wearing makeup and nail polish.

The decision was made in March and extends to employees being restricted from wearing rainbow pins. Roorda claimed that trustees refused to hear remarks from critics following to vote to ban the flag.

“The library trustees have all the time in the world to listen to people wanting to ban books, but they didn’t even have the decency to extend the time to hear from those of us wanting to speak,” Roorda told the outlet. “I just want equal time as the book banners.”

The library trustees will vote on Tuesday on whether or not to remove the Bible from its catalog.

According to The Detroit News, more than a dozen books have been challenged by patrons in recent years, but only one book has successfully been banned.

A book in which adult entertainers give intimacy tips was removed from shelves, while books including My Mom’s Having a Baby and Bye, Bye Binary remained.

Roorda needs six of the nine trustees to vote in favor in order for the ban to be approved.