A notorious book ban advocate disrupted a city school board meeting in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, forcing the meeting to enter recess as the stacked audience cheered for him.

John Amanchukwu, a North Carolina pastor who has made a career out of campaigning against transgender rights, abortion, and so-called “critical race theory,” spoke during a meeting on December 10 about what he claimed would be “October revenue.”

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The list includes Dr. Seuss children’s books and graphic novels that “appeal to the prurient interest,” according to school officials.

Instead, he held up the picture book It Feels Good to Be Yourself, which aims to talk about gender identity to young readers.

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“How we use these funds matters because we want to put the best things before children,” he said. “When you open the book it says, ‘Some people are boys. Some people are girls. Some people are both. Neither are somewhere in between.'”

Amanchukwu had an audience packed with people backing him and was supported by Rutherford County Board of Education member Caleb Tidwell, who led the county’s efforts to ban books in the region.

He was immediately gaveled and told off by board Chairman Butch Campbell, with a member of the audience agreeing with the chairman and shouting, “Out of order.”

Amanchukwu cited the Bible, attacking the concept of nonbinary identities, before saying, “This book talks about transgenderism. What 4-year-old can spell the word transgender?”

This all happened while he was being shouted at for disrupting the meeting.

“You are declared out of order,” Campbell said. “I ask you to return to your seat and refrain from further disruption of the meeting.”

He openly admitted to wanting to ban books as well, claiming that pro-LGBTQ+ books “pervert the hearts and minds of children.” He then tried to insult board member Jimmy Richardson III, who was wearing a shirt that said “Ban Fascists. Save Books,” by saying he is “probably a white dude for Harris.”

Richardson, who also worked as a child welfare attorney and is a devout Roman Catholic, said, “It is far more important that if an out-of-state fella claiming to be a pastor is coming all the way to Murfreesboro that he should visit with the poor, the sick, the immigrant and the imprisoned rather than worrying about what clothes I wear.”

Amanchukwu was escorted out by police as the audience applauded.

According to Campbell’s interview with The Daily News Journal after the meeting, the book Amanchukwu campaigned against has never been checked out. He said he was obeying state law regarding speaking on relevant subjects established before the meeting, the agenda of which did not include book bans.

“The person speaking did not follow the process. He didn’t quit talking. I had to tell him again he was out of order… We can’t just pull a book off the shelf. State law says you can’t do that.”

School district spokeswoman Lisa Trail added,”Prior to this meeting, MCS had not received any formal request, phone calls, or emails from parents, staff or community members regarding concerns about library materials.”

Trail said that a request to remove the book has since been made and will be discussed in the future.

“To the best of my knowledge, our district has not faced a formal complaint to any book in our school libraries. We have a clear process in place to ensure that parents, employees or students can request a review of any book. If a request arises, we will follow a review process outlined in our Library Materials Policy to determine whether the book remains appropriate for our school library. The policy can be found on our website.”

Amanchukwu is notorious for speaking in localities across the nation. He began his career advocating for book bans in his home state of North Carolina and announced last year that he was embarking on a cross-country campaign to establish book bans in “every school district as possible.”

“The hope of Christ will not be defeated. I’m going to go to every school board that I can and share the true simple message of protecting our children, making sure that we rid our schools of these gender theory ideologies and critical race theory,” he said in a video announcement.

His book ban advocacy has been backed by Turning Point USA and has also taken him to Nevada, where he worked to rally people to vote for Donald Trump. His tour also took him to New Jersey, where he was kicked out of a meeting for disruption.

Board member Tidwell says he supports Amanchukwu. “I believe that John was courteous and respectful,” Tidwell said. “I don’t think John was out of line.”

Book bans are in place in many localities across the country and often exist because of Republican pressure campaigns fed by a moral outrage over LGBTQ+ individuals being featured in works of fiction or works mentioning that systemic racism exists. This has led to legislation known as “book ban bans”, which prevent book bans from being instituted in several states.

A new law in Tennessee known as House Bill 843 took effect July 1 and expands the 2022 Age-Appropriate Materials Act by prohibiting public school libraries from having books with “nudity, or descriptions or depictions of sexual excitement, sexual conduct, excess violence, or sadomasochistic abuse,” or any book that is “patently offensive… or appeals to the prurient interest.” This has been used as justification for banning upwards of 400 books in the state.

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