Mississippi pastor responds to reports of book removal

Reverend Blair Bradley, pastor of the Covenant of Peace Church in Harrison County, argues with protesters opposing the library book ban outside the West Biloxi Library in Biloxi where a meeting of the library board was held on Monday, July 25, 2022.
Reverend Blair Bradley says his stance on whether LGBTQ+ books should be in libraries on the coast has been misrepresented.
“I’ve been labeled as something I’m not,” Bradley told the Sun Herald on Tuesday.
Several Coast media outlets reported that Bradley spoke out against the books last week before Biloxi City Council.
But Bradley says his message was not clearly interpreted, which he attributes to having a time limit to speak.
Bradley said on Tuesday he only cares about LGBTQ+ books, especially transgender books, on display in select libraries on the coast, which was done as part of Pride month in June. He says he doesn’t want and has never wanted the books removed entirely.
“I don’t want books banned, I want children protected,” he said. “There are advocates in some of these movements who want to indoctrinate children.”
“A posting is a promotion,” he said.
And in that exhibit, he specifically challenged books that he said pushed children to be transgender, which he said promotes surgeries and irreversible hormones. “People shouldn’t promote what is contested science at best,” he said. “I don’t want the public library promoting transgender to kids.”
Bradley also wants the library to offer books that he considers to be on the other side of the debate. He cited a book called “Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters.”
A group of librarians will decide later this year what to do, if anything, about LGBTQ+ books.