As a bivocational pastor in Louisiana, Luke Ash had been working a second job at a public library to support his family. But Ash said he lost that side gig earlier this month after refusing to use the preferred pronouns of a library co-worker.
Ash, pastor of Stevendale Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, moved to Louisiana earlier this year. Ash’s church is a member of the Baptist Association of Greater Baton Rouge, the Louisiana Baptist Convention, and the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).
On the July 15 episode of “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins,” Ash explained that his previous side job had been truck driving. But he wanted a position with better hours so he “could give more of my time to the church and my family.”
After four months working as an interdepartmental loan technician at the East Baton Rouge Parish Library, Ash said, he was reprimanded for not using the preferred pronouns of a transgender colleague during a conversation with another colleague. Because the pastor refused to “get on board” with the pronoun usage, he said, he was fired the next day.
“I said, ‘I’m not going to lie,’” Ash recalled. “I cannot do it.”
Library Fires Louisiana Pastor Over Pronoun Usage
Speaking to Tony Perkins, Ash said he knew going into the library job that the workplace wouldn’t be “necessarily hospitable for a Christian or even a conservatively minded person. But I just kind of kept my mouth shut and just tried to do a good job and respect everybody that came my way.”
The position had been ideal, Ash thought, because “part of the job of a pastor is to disseminate information, and so I was going to still play a part of that in my tentmaking job.”
Ash said although he knew his stance would violate the library’s employee code of conduct, he believed his “religious convictions” mattered too. “When those things are in contradiction with each other, there has to be given preference for one or the other,” said the pastor. Ash didn’t indicate if he plans to sue the library over his termination.
Perkins commended Ash “for taking a biblical stand” by using “biologically accurate” pronouns. The host asked the pastor for other behind-the-scenes takes on the local public library system. Ash said he had heard colleagues disparaging books by President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“They’re absolutely limiting access to books” by purchasing and promotional decisions, Ash said of the library. “It’s not just about…banning a book on a piece of paper. If you can pretend that that book doesn’t exist, that’s even more effective.”
Louisiana Pastor: Libraries Can’t Replace Churches
Ash said his library branch didn’t sponsor drag-queen story hours, but various LGBTQ+ displays are visible depending on the month. It’s especially noteworthy to see which books are showcased in the teen section, the pastor told Perkins.
Local libraries are “trying to pivot so they can still continue to have a purpose for existing as a community center,” according to Ash. In fact, he said Christians must watch out so public libraries are not “taking the place of the local church.”
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Asked about other shocking discoveries during his time as a library employee, Ash pointed to trainings about microaggressions, anti-racism, and being trans-affirming. “The public would have no way of knowing that sort of thing,” the pastor told Perkins.
