Censorship Strikes Again - No Books for Our Kids
March 17,2006: I’ve always been a big proponent of exposing our children to books with families that look like theirs. Not only did I read books like One Dad, Two Dads, Brown Dad, Blue Dad to my son, but I sent those books into school with him when it was his turn to bring a book for storytime. I never got anything but great feedback from the teachers and other parents, who appreciated their kids being exposed to age-appropriate examples of diversity.
But kids in Oklahoma will find it harder to find examples of LGBT families in children’s books. The usual haters don’t want representations of our lives - or our children’s lives - to exist. This is from 365gay.com:
Books for children about gay families will have to be removed from the kids’ sections of public libraries under legislation passed Wednesday night by the Oklahoma House.
The bill allows the state to withhold funding from local libraries that don’t restrict children’s access to reading material with sexually explicit or gay themes.
During two hours of debate opponents of the measure called it censorship. Nevertheless the bill passed 60-to-33.
The author of the legislation Rep. Sally Kern (R-Oklahoma City) said that children need to be protected from sexually explicit material that “is turning young people into sex machines.”
The bill now heads to the Senate where opponents say they have enough votes to defeat it.
The bill is similar to a non-binding resolution passed by the House last year and led to libraries in several cities moving gay themed books. (story)
Lawmakers specifically criticized “King and King,” “Daddy’s Roommate,” “The Duke Who Outlawed Jelly Beans” and “Heather Has Two Mommies.”
The LGBT-themed books are geared to children’s reading levels - from just learning to read to about age 12.
Last month Oklahoma City’s ’s Metropolitan Library Commission has voted to move the books to a separate section available only to adults.