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BOURBON, Mo. — Before she put together a book display in honor of Pride month, Rachel Rodman consulted the . In late May, Rodman was a library clerk at the Bourbon branch of the Crawford County Library District. She had been there about a year and had created many such displays of books for holidays and other celebrations.

“I was told I had creative freedom on displays,� Rodman told me. “I was just trying to be inclusive to as many people as I could. I think it’s important for Pride to be celebrated in small towns, also.�

After checking the ALA website, Rodman looked through the library’s own collection of various books with LGBTQ themes. She chose some that didn’t have any particularly provocative titles or covers. On Saturday, May 31, she placed them on a bookshelf with a small sign in the middle: “Color our World with Inclusion,� it said, and in small, 14-point type: “Read With Pride.� In a bit of serendipity, the bookshelf happened to be located next to a wall that had posters about rising censorship in America.

Six days later, Rodman was fired.

The director of the library system, Amy England, delivered the news on June 6 in a letter. “You were asked to perform a specific duty in your capacity as library clerk and refused to do so,� it read.

The “duty� in question was presented to her by the branch manager, who a few days after the display had been up asked Rodman to take it down. She refused.

“I knew I was insubordinate,� she says. “I didn’t think for a second to take it down. It makes no sense to me to back down to bigots.�

The letter dismissing Rodman said the library’s board of trustees voted unanimously to fire her. There is no notice of a special meeting on the trustees’ website. The board’s regular June meeting wasn’t until six days later.

For Rodman, the incident is just another example of how difficult it can be to grow up gay in a small town, especially in a place like rural Missouri where many elected Republicans are antagonistic to LGBTQ issues. Over the past few years, various school boards and library boards in Missouri banned award-winning books related to topics of diversity or equity or inclusion. Former Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft wrote a rule that could open the door to more book bans by threatening rural libraries with needed state funding. The Missouri Legislature threatened budget cuts to any university that didn’t dismantle its diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

Living through these moments, and celebrating the freedom of civil rights hard fought for and gained, is sort of the point of . Rodman grew up in St. Clair in rural Franklin County. She lives now with her husband, Mark, in Sullivan. She didn’t realize she was bisexual until five years into her marriage. Her husband has been supportive, as has her mother. But like many members of the LGBTQ community, she lost some relationships when she went public with her sexual orientation. She and Mark have been married for 14 years. They have four boys and are raising two foster children.

A junior at Maryville University, she is studying social work. Rodman, 33, loved her library job, and might want to stay in that field, though her experience has soured her on ever working for Crawford County again, even if she were to get her job back. Rodman has filed a complaint with the Missouri Human Rights Commission, alleging she was discriminated against.

While she posted about her experience on Facebook, Rodman says she generally shies away from public attention. She’s an unlikely warrior in the ongoing battle against the rise of fascism and censorship in America, but she feels committed to standing up for what she believes in. The timing of her battle happened to coincide with thousands of “No Kings� protests across the country, with millions of Americans standing up to the Trump administration’s trampling of constitutional rights in the opening months of the president’s term.

“I can’t change the opinions of Americans who disagree with me,� Rodman said. “We’re supposed to love our neighbors, but it seems not everybody believes that anymore.�

England declined to comment on Rodman’s firing, though she said in an email that the library district remains “devoted to our policy of creating an inclusive, welcoming, and respectful organizational culture that appreciates and supports individual differences.�

The library district has a diversity and inclusion policy . The words of that policy belie the district’s actions in firing Rodman for welcoming LGBTQ patrons with a display during a month in which they celebrate their shared culture.

That’s why Rodman wouldn’t back down when asked to take down the tasteful display she created in a corner of the adult section of the library.

“I don’t think what I did was wrong,� Rodman says. “I don’t regret doing it.�