Thu May 06, 2010 at 03:45:00 PM EDT
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I wonder how many books are in the Rancocas Valley library? A former councilwoman and group of a few others have decided that three of them are offensive and must be removed from the library. And the school board actually went along with them on one:The book, "Revolutionary Voices: A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology" was removed under pressure from a group who felt its content was inappropriate. The book, edited by Amy Sonnie, includes a series of poetry, prose and personal accounts by gay, lesbian, and transgender youth.
At its Tuesday night meeting, the board decided not to remove two other books that the group also thought were inappropriate for young readers - "The Full Spectrum: A New Generation of Writing About Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning and Other Identities" and "Love and Sex: Ten Stories of Truth." Why can't they just accept the idea that gay people could actually love each other and be intimate too? For all the talk of getting government out of people's lives, they are very eager to limit what can be said and done when it deals with the bedroom. It's not like this action is a common occurence in the district and the board didn't bother to explain, giving no reason for its action according to the Superintendent:"I've been here six years and this is the first one," Moskalski said of the book's removal. "It doesn't happen very often."
Moskalski said an advisory committee of 10 people, including a parent, a clergy member, the school librarian and the school board's curriculum committee reviewed the books. The curriculum committee then made a recommendation to the entire school board. What was a member of the clergy doing on a review committee for a public high school? I have to be honest, I haven't read any of the books. And none of them are required reading by the school, so the students won't have to read them either if they don't want to. They just happen to be in the library and aren't even being read that much, having been checked out a grand total of 19 times since 2001 for all three books. That's less than one time per year for each book.
What is the school board doing going along with this? How is it that of all the books in the library, these three, checked out 19 times in the last 9 years total are a problem? I also love how at the end of the Courier Post article they make like it should be ok because the districts have Gay/Straight Alliances. Way to carry the water. The group says they're coming my way too because next they want to come and ban these books from the school district where I attended. |
| Jason Springer :: Award-Nominated Support Books for Gay Teens "Inappropriate" |
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