Kirk Cameron and Brave Books undeterred by library canceling ‘See You at the Library’ event: ‘We plan on showing up’
Heather Hamilton
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Kirk Cameron and his faith-based children’s book publisher, Brave Books, are not deterred by one Alabama library’s attempt to cancel a gathering in coordination with their “See You at the Library” event.
The Madison Public Library in Huntsville, Alabama, canceled its participation in the “See You at the Library” event set to be hosted by Moms for Liberty this Saturday. It is part of Cameron and Brave Books’s national event, which has touted nearly 270 libraries’ participation across 45 states.
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The Madison Public Library announced they would no longer be able to host the event, citing concerns over the expected number of attendees. It said after exploring options with city officials, the event would need to be moved to an alternate location.
“The City of Madison applies permitting regulations for outside events equally to all groups and organizations. While the initially planned event was suited for the Madison Library’s capacity, the scope of attendees quickly grew,” the City of Madison said in a statement. “The Moms for Liberty group failed to apply for an event permit in advance, and it was determined that City resources cannot support an event of this size on such short notice. Alternative accommodations have been recommended to the organization to ensure a safe and well attended event.”
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Brave Books CEO Trent Talbot told the Washington Examiner that they plan to still show up at the Madison Public Library on Saturday.
“We have been traveling the country for nine months now, putting on wholesome story hours at public libraries all across the country. At each library, we have had more people show up than the capacity of the room we reserved,” Talbot said. “We have handled the line of people the same way throughout. … We allow the correct amount of people in the room for the story hour while containing the line of people outside in an appropriate way.”
“The Madison Public Library using capacity constraints as the reason for ‘canceling’ this event makes absolutely no sense and is putting them in legal jeopardy,” Talbot added. “We are expecting the library to come to its senses for tomorrow’s story hour, and we plan on showing up tomorrow morning at 10 a.m.”
The law firm representing Brave Books, First Liberty Institute, responded to the cancellation with a letter on Thursday, which the Washington Examiner obtained, noting that should it continue with the cancellation, it “will have engaged in unlawful and unconstitutional religious viewpoint and content discrimination in violation of the Alabama Constitution and the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”
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First Liberty Institute said that if the event was not reinstated, the law firm was “prepared to vindicate this violation of our client’s civil rights in court.”
Cameron previously told the Washington Examiner that opposition to the event was anticipated.
“Some of the hosts are actually worried about capacity issues, that they’re going to have so many people that they won’t know where to put everybody that can fit into the reading rooms — not to mention there are people who are coming to the story hours that are not part of this movement but they’re actually protesting the movement,” Cameron said. “People at local libraries have received email threats of interruptions and drag queen protests and performances. That will be occurring at these libraries or right next to these libraries at the same time.”
“So it should be an amazing day,” Cameron continued. “The battle is here, and we’re confident that good is going to triumph over evil.”
For the past eight months, Cameron has been on a multicity nationwide story hour tour with publisher Brave Books as he’s made stops at libraries to read his faith-based children’s books, As You Grow and Pride Comes Before the Fall, and encourage parents who desire to reclaim cultural impact and resist “woke” influences on their children.
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On Saturday, Cameron plans to make appearances at three libraries, including the Madison Public Library, as he travels via a private jet that was donated for use during the event.
Pinal County, Arizona, Sheriff Mark Lamb, podcaster and author David Harris Jr., women’s sports advocate Riley Gaines, and former mobster Michael Franzese are also expected to make appearances at some of the library gatherings.