Religious activist fined for burning library's LGBTQ books

ORANGE CITY, Ia. — A religious activist accused of burning four LGBTQ children's books that he checked out of a library in Iowa has been convicted of criminal mischief and fined.

Sioux County Attorney Thomas Kunstle says 63-year-old Paul Robert Dorr, of Ocheyedan, was found guilty of the misdemeanor Tuesday and ordered to pay $125 in fines and court costs.

Dorr posted a video to Facebook in October in which he denounced the Orange City library for having the books and threw them into a burning barrel.

Dorr had fought to have the charge dismissed, saying he was singled out for prosecution because of his anti-gay message. A judge rejected his argument in July, saying the only message being sent to him was "that he cannot burn books that do not belong to him."

American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa legal director Rita Bettis Austen released a statement on the case. 

"Burning public library books is the destruction of ideas, and that’s reprehensible," the statement read, in part. "We stand by the LGBTQ community in Orange City and the public library that serves them."

Courtney Crowder's Iowa:My grandmother integrated a library in 1970. Now Iowans can't let hate separate one.