A few dozen supporters, opponents and librarians came to a Lubbock event hosted by a national LGBT hate group. The speaker focused on titles she called explicit, but other examples were about sexuality and identity.
Book ban debates have happened across Texas, but have not come up much publicly in Lubbock. When the speaker asked who would volunteer to pursue that here, three hands in the audience shot up.
The event was originally scheduled to take place at the Science Spectrum, where the True Texas Project holds regular monthly meetings, according to the TTP website. Calls from local opponents to the event and the Mothers Against Greg Abbott PAC led to the Science Spectrum canceling the event.
The event was then moved to the Homewood Suites by Hilton, where it was later canceled again. Finally, Rock City Church on Fourth Street gave the event a venue.
The event was promoted by Mass Resistance, classified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-LGBT hate group. The group started as the “Article 8 Alliance” by opposing the rights of gay couples in Massachusetts in 1995, before changing names in 2006.
The other group began as the Northeast Tarrant Tea Party in 2009, before rebranding to the True Texas Project 10 years later. Active across the state, they have been labeled an extreme anti-government group, being banned from some event locations, including churches.