A library in Alabama has canceled its book-reading event featuring conservative personalities Kirk Cameron and Riley Gaines due to capacity concerns.
Conservative organization “Moms for Liberty” was planning to host the event at the Madison Public Library on August 5, but the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library later released a statement canceling the event.
“The Moms for Liberty organization had planned to feature Brave Books in a meeting room at Madison Public Library. Due to the event’s anticipated attendance increasing beyond the Library’s capacity, the Library will be unable to host the event. Initially, the organizers of the event reported 20 attendees to library officials. On Tuesday the Library learned that event organizers are now expecting over 300 people, a number that far exceeds any meeting room capacity within the Huntsville-Madison County Library System,” the statement read.
“After discussing the logistics of the event with both the Library and the event organizer, the Madison City Police Department and the Madison City Fire Marshal have recommended that the event be held at an alternate location,” the statement continued.
According to First Liberty Institute senior counsel Jeremy Dys, the library canceled the event after learning that Cameron and Gaines could cause “security concerns from a potential protest of Mr. Cameron and claiming the event exceeds the library’s capacity.”
“We write to inform you that, should you persist in the cancellation of this event, you will have engaged in unlawful and unconstitutional religious viewpoint and content discrimination,” Dys declared in the letter. “We therefore request that you respond by Noon Friday, August 4, 2023, confirming Brave Books and Mr. Cameron may utilize the Madison Public Library to host the ‘See You at the Library’ event on Saturday, August 5, 2023. Should you refuse, we are prepared to vindicate this violation of our client’s civil rights in court,” Dys wrote to Huntsville-Madison County Libraries executive director Cindy Hewitt.
Cameron, meanwhile, has tweeted that he “will be visiting 3 libraries with Brave Books and Riley Gaines.”
He mentioned that his Saturday stops included Hendersonville Public Library in Hendersonville, Tennessee; Madison Public Library in Huntsville, Alabama; and Taylor Public Library in Taylor, Texas, outside Austin.
