An overflow crowd of hundreds of people snaked around the Taylor Public Library on Saturday, August 5. They were there to attend a children’s book reading which featured two well-known conservative activists—Brave Books author and Growing Pains actor Kirk Cameron and Riley Gaines, a former college swimmer who now opposes the inclusion of transgender athletes in sports.
The event in Taylor was a part of a national campaign launched by conservative Christian publisher Brave Books which involved hundreds of events hosted at public libraries across the country. Brave Books has partnered with controversial right-wing activists like Chaya Raichik, the founder of the deeply anti-LGBTQ+ social media account Libs of Tik Tok, and Jack Posobiec, a Southern Poverty Law Center-designated extremist with a history of collaborating with white supremacists.
