‘Leftist’ materials in little free libraries are the subject of a contentious Facebook post from the wife of a Faulkner County lawmaker

Conway, Arkansas – The wife of Stephen Meeks, a lawmaker for Faulkner County, made a contentious remark on Facebook.

She claims in the essay to have come across “leftist” reading material in tiny free libraries. According to the post, she has recently been adding content that is more consistent with her Christian principles.

Outside of his job, Josh Draper manages a Little Free Library.

“Basically, it’s a place where people can look and see if they like a book, they can take it if they want it, it’s free,” Draper said.

The small free library, according to him, contains a wide range of literature.

“I don’t really care what goes in and what goes out as long as it’s not obscene material, that goes out immediately, but other than that it’s whatever people want to leave,” Draper said.

Meeks’ wife claims in the post that she has seen pride-related items in the libraries.

Director of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Conway, Greg Warren, expresses his desire for their Little Free Library to be open to anyone.

“Anything that encourages reading is important and sometimes that’s a book that everyone has access to and loves, and sometimes that’s a piece of material that maybe is a little more specialized that speaks to an individual in that point in their life,” Warren said. “We are an inclusive church, we believe that God’s love extends to all of God’s children, no matter what their sex, gender, their preferences or orientation.”

According to a post from Meek’s wife, the libraries now have Bibles and devotionals. Rep. Meeks responded when we contacted him, claiming that his wife had never traded pride materials. He claims the point his wife was making was that she wanted to include Bibles in an effort to have both pride and religious things.

“If that book that is different than what I might put in there encourages someone to read and to look further and dig deeper, that’s wonderful,” Warren said.