James Nimmo sent along a couple more from Oklahoma.
Banning Books A Slippery Slope & Oklahoma House Passes Gay Book Ban. More from James below in the form of a press release from Oklahoma Stonewall Democrats. (I’m a bit late on posting this)
News From Yesterday says The Oklahoma City Metropolitan Library System Board met to consider whether the book “King and King,” which features a story about a prince marrying another prince, should be placed in the children’s section or in another part of Oklahoma City’s downtown library.
James Nimmo sent along a couple more from Oklahoma.
Banning Books A Slippery Slope & Oklahoma House Passes Gay Book Ban. More from James below in the form of a press release from Oklahoma Stonewall Democrats. (I’m a bit late on posting this)
News From Yesterday says The Oklahoma City Metropolitan Library System Board met to consider whether the book “King and King,” which features a story about a prince marrying another prince, should be placed in the children’s section or in another part of Oklahoma City’s downtown library.Childrens Books on Childrens Shelves
Segregation in the Public Library
media release
May 18, 2005
for immediate release
contact: James Nimmo, treasurer
[email protected]
www.oklahomastonewall.org
405-843-3651
(Oklahoma City) Oklahoma Stonewall Democrats (OSD) and other affinity groups in Oklahoma City will be gathering at 3:00pm, Thursday, May 19, at the Downtown/Norick Public Library, 300 Park Avenue, to support and defend the current library policy of non-discrimination that adheres to professional library standards of fairness and principle–not prejudice.
We will be offering our views at the southeast corner of Park and Harvey in support of the Metropolitan Library System’s Commission and Administration as they are coerced by the threat of curtailed funding due to the efforts of State Representative Sally Kern (R-Bethany, HD 84) who has introduced and passed House Resolution 1039 which calls for public libraries statewide to segregate childrens books according to subject matter.
We feel that, if implemented, HR 1039 will severely interfere with a parent/care-giver’s right to guide their own child’s reading selections due to the artificial opprobrium placed on a vague, ill-defined list of subjects.
The Metropolitan Library Commission will be meeting at the Downtown/Norick library at 3:30, May 19, to discuss and vote on the current policy which now serves all points-of-view without recourse to prejudice or circumscribed ideology. It is ironic that a traveling exhibt from the National Holocaust Museum concering Nazi book burning is now on display in the attrium of the Library.
Oklahoma Stonewall Democrats is a chapter of National Stonewall Democrats (www.stonewalldemocrats.org) and works for the equality of Oklahoma’s gay citizens.
30-30″
Sexism and Fairy Tales
Dear Editor:
I have been to all of the meetings of the Metro Library System at which Representative Kern has attempted to “reason� the board into going along with her request to re-shelve King and King before she threatened to hold libraries hostage until they complied. I am one of those Homosexuals she knows and respects, the ones she then goes on to vilify and allow her associates to call predator, molester, and one step away from bestiality. Odd type of respect that.
I have found three stories in the children’s section of the library that Kern needs to consider next. Although, other than equating “Homosexual themed� books with pornography for shock sake and then citing Ted Bundy who claimed pornography set him on his murderous rampage as her supporting evidence, Kern gives no evidence that reading a book like King And King “turns� someone Gay.
However, three stories I have found in the children’s Snow White, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, present impressionable girls as young as pre-school with the message that some man, a Prince Charming, will enter their lives, possibly the first man they ever meet or have an attraction to, or even the first one that shows any interest in them, and will sweep them off their feet to live happily ever after.
But, in Oklahoma over half the marriages end in divorce. When she wants to save the children, doesn’t Kern want to save them from this impression that may lead them to fantasy based, harmful marriages which they cannot enjoy but must choose to leave or endure? Don’t stories such as these attract children to a life-style that is harmful, self-destructive and unhealthy?
Beyond these, The Three Bears favors Goldilocks who not only breaks into and enters their home, but after a bit of vandalism escapes heroically from the house to have the bears punished for threatening her.
The Three Little Pigs take it upon themselves to build homes on land that is obviously not theirs as pigs do not live in forests like wolves do. We have our children cheer for the pigs when they manage to have the wolf injure himself while defending his rightful property against their unlawful intrusion.
The values of a covenant marriage, respect for other people’s property and homes, and not taking what is your neighbor’s are traditional majority values based on our Judeo-Christian heritage which are not properly represented by these stories.
If she were true to her often changing words, whichever they are at the moment, she would want these books put in a sensitive section of the library as they go against the values of the majority.
Joseph Quigley
Oklahoma City, OK