Mississippi mayor withholds funds to county libraries unless they remove all 'homosexual materials': report

Gene McGee, the mayor of Ridgeland, Mississippi, is reportedly threatening to withhold funding from the local county library system unless it removes LGBTQ-related materials from its premises.

Mississippi Free Press reports that McGee is withholding $110,000 in funds for the libraries because he's upset that they're carrying books with LGBTQ characters and themes.

Tonja Johnson, executive director for the Madison County Library System, tells Mississippi Free Press that she questioned McGee about why he was withholding money after she noticed that Ridgeland did not make its first quarterly payment this year.

"He explained his opposition to what he called ‘homosexual materials’ in the library, that it went against his Christian beliefs, and that he would not release the money as the long as the materials were there," Johnson explains.

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Johnson says that she tried to tell McGee that libraries are not religious institutions, and thus a person's religious beliefs should have no impact on the books it decides to carry.

However, it seems he was unpersuaded.

"He told me that the library can serve whoever we wanted, but that he only serves the great Lord above," she claims.

McGee's office did not respond to Mississippi Free Press's requests for comment.