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EARTHA MELZE
Friday, May 27, 2005
Republican Congressman Walter Jones of North Carolina has introduced a bill that would withhold federal education funds from states that don’t require schools to establish parental advisory committees to review materials before they are purchased by school libraries.
Jones’ office did not return calls seeking comment, but in an online statement Jones said the purpose of the legislation — dubbed the Parental Empowerment Act of 2005 (H.R. 2295) — is “to empower parents at a local level and shine a light on controversial books before they are purchased.”
This is not Jones’ first such effort. He has repeatedly introduced a bill that would remove the restrictions that bar clergy from endorsing candidates from the pulpit. He also led efforts to rename french fries “freedom fries” after the French government opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
Jones has said that he became interested in the book issue after parents in Wilmington, N.C., complained that their child’s school library carried the book “King & King,” a fairy tale in which two princes get married.
“King & King,” by Dutch authors Linda De Haan and Stern Nijiland, was published in the United States in 2002 by Tricycle Press.
Beverley Becker, associate director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom at the American Library Association, said that the ALA opposes Jones’ bill because it is intended to prevent schools from buying books on controversial topics.
School libraries already have material selection policies that are approved by school boards, Becker said. She added that all libraries have policies and procedures to respond to parental concerns, which require that a formal complaint be filed.
“Libraries are local and have local policies designed by local people,” Becker said. “The federal government should not be telling local institutions how to run their libraries.”
According to the ALA, homosexual content is the issue in three of the 10 most commonly challenged books. Sexual content and offensive language are the most common complaints.
Becker said that this year’s upswing in gay-related book complaints is a response to the prominence of the same-sex marriage issue.
In the Wilmington case, the school system resolved the issue over “King and King” by putting the book in a special section for adults only. New Hanover County School Board member Janice Cavenaugh said that though the school was able to deal with the issue, “the inclusion of parents in the process of selecting books would be beneficial in that it would prevent surprises at a later date.”
“This legislation would be laughable if it weren’t real,” said Christopher Barron, the political director for the national gay rights group Log Cabin Republicans. “Obviously we support age appropriate materials but for Congressman Jones to grandstand like this is antithetical to Republican values. We are supposed to be the party … that believes in returning control and power to states and localities, and it is clear that Congressman Jones doesn’t care about that.”
Barron said that the Log Cabin Republicans intend to watch this legislation, but that it is not clear to him that the legislation will advance.
“Jones’ record so far has been a lot of talk and little action,” Barron said.
Proposals intended to limit access to books with homosexual content are also being proposed at the state level.
In Alabama, Rep. Gerald Allen (R-Tuscaloosa) proposed a bill that identified homosexuality as a crime and would have made it a Class A misdemeanor for public schools or libraries to use public funds to purchase materials that address homosexuality without condemning it. The bill died in committee.
The Oklahoma House passed a resolution introduced by Rep. Sally Kern ( R-Oklahoma City) that stated that public funds should not be used to make materials about human sexuality available to children.
The resolution, which passed 81-3, stated that the passage of the Oklahoma marriage amendment renders “materials promoting homosexual marriage inconsistent with current law.” It also stated that “a survey showed that 88 percent of Oklahomans favored restricting the availability of homosexually-themed books and over 50 percent of those favor withholding funds from libraries that fail to do so.”
Though the Oklahoma resolution does not have the force of law, some representatives have indicated that libraries that do not follow the resolution could have their funding blocked.
A spokesperson for Rep. Sally Kern said that Kern would only talk to media outlets that held favorable views about her legislation, and that Kern was “gun shy” about talking to reporters she believes are characterizing her as wanting to ban or burn books.
In Louisiana, Rep. A.G. Crowe, (R-Slidell) has introduced a non-binding resolution with wording similar to the measure passed in Oklahoma. Crowe, who was one of the authors of Alabama’s constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, said that in response to feedback that the bill seems extreme and anti-gay, he is revising his bill, and taking out the mention of homosexuality as one of the themes inappropriate for children.
Crowe said that he was unaware of the federal Parental Empowerment Act and that his bill is a homegrown effort to protect children from a “moral decline,” which he said is spread in part through acceptance of the “homosexual lifestyle.”
The Library Journal, an independent national publication, reported in its online edition that both the Oklahoma and Louisiana efforts were launched after constituents’ children found “King & King” in the children’s section of local libraries.
Crowe said that library policies are inadequate and legislation to prevent child access to gay books is necessary because once a child reads a book such as “King & King,” “the damage is done.”
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