(The Center Square) – A day after Riley Gaines weighed in on a situation at the Sumner County Library Board, the Tennessee native was appointed to serve on it, according to her social media post.
Gaines, 12-time All-American swimmer at Kentucky, is from Sumner County. She’s risen to national prominence as the leading voice for protecting women’s spaces.
She has lobbied for bills in several states that would prevent boys who say they are girls from competing in women’s sports.
Gaines criticized the inclusion of books about transgender children.
In a social media post, “Tennessee banned tax dollars from funding woke gender ideology, but my own county’s library board is ignoring it. These books (and others) were challenged by concerned parents in February, but to no prevail. Remove this filth from our libraries!”
The Sumner County Commission also discussed reducing the number of board members from seven to nine, according to its agenda. One position was empty. Gaines criticized the board, which she said was split between conservatives and nonconservatives, for not showing up at meetings.
“If they show up to a meeting they will be forced to vote for or against this policy that removes trans ideological books from the children’s section per state and federal law. They do not want to go on record for voting no. It would ruin their reputation,” Gaines said.
The Sumner County Commission approved Gaines’ appointment to the library board and kept the number of members at nine, according to a Facebook post by Commissioner Jeremy Mansfield.
