AFA NEWS: Library Battle over Gay Newspapers Heats Up

[Sgent]

March 27, 2006

Library Battle over Gay Newspapers Heats Up
by Steve Jordahl

Parents and concerned citizens say they don’t want gay newspapers in the lobby of their library.

Walk into the Upper Arlington Public Library in Ohio and you’ll be confronted by a gay newspaper that routinely has graphic sexual content. The Outlook Weekly is in a rack in the lobby that holds other free community papers. Library trustee Bryce Kurfees is worried that young eyes could get more than they can handle from the Outlook and he wants the paper removed. He’s especially concerned because the library shares its parking lot with an elementary school a scant hundred yards away.

“What I want to do with them is toss them out. There’s no reason that we need to accept free newspapers that are just dropped off at our front door, especially ones that are obscene.”

Kurfees isn’t the only one complaining. The American Library Association reports that attempts to remove gay themed literature are on the rise around the country, increasing by more than twenty percent in a single year. The ACLU, which did not return our calls for comment, is threatening a lawsuit if he does. Kurfees is determined not to give in.

American Family Assoc (Barf) News

[rpgamerd00d]

1. "routinely has graphic sexual content"

i.e. two people of the same sex in physical contact and/or kissing each other.

i.e. bullshit.

[northzax]

5. actually, Outlook occaisionally does have sexual content on the cover

as do other publications. once, when I was running a store in DC, I removed the Metro Weekly from the front of the store, because I didn't want to look at a picture of a man in a Gimp costume and ball gag for Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend. I didn't want my customers to deal with that image (and it was a liquor store, so they were all adults)the other 51 weeks of the year, I was happy to carry it, but that one was objectionable.

I would have done the same thing, by the way, if it had been a woman with a ball gag on the cover.

[BOSSHOG]

2. AFA "news is as reliable as EIB or faux

"On the rise" "20% in a single year." Wooo! Kurfees is "determined." What a man!

My favorite AFA "news" story:

In a report soon to be released, information may be available that may indicate that Michael Schiavo may have abused his wife. And they wonder why we question their "christian" credentials. Obviously they don't care that eventually Jesus will have his shot at them too.

[Sgent]

3. I believe them as far

as them wanting to take alternative publications out of libraries. I would be shocked if covers are regularly pornographic as they claim.

[BOSSHOG]

6. Hey State Mate

where abouts are you located? I'm in Pearl River County just across the state line from Slidell and New Orleans.

[Xeric]

4. AFA crackpots are wrong again

More lies from the wackos at the AFA.
Turns out there was a hearing last week:

"Of the approximately 30 people who addressed the board, only two spoke in favor of the publications being banned or moved to the basement. They faulted the board for “turning this into a bigger issue” than they had wanted.
A woman who seemed very angry with Magill brought a scrapbook of what she viewed as objectionable clippings from the publications.

Many of the others said they had come specifically to support free speech and expressed bafflement at the re-emergence of this issue, which they felt had been adequately handled last year.

“The determination of what is appropriate for my child is up to me,” said one father, “not for the public library to decide by erecting barriers to access.”

He said that the work of Thomas Aquinas was bawdy and sexually explicit with graphic scenes and that those books were available to his daughter in the library.

snip

The next man to speak said he had taken time off work to be there. “While our soldiers are fighting for our freedom in Iraq,” he argued, “some are restricting freedoms here.”

“This is a very important issue,” he said, because “it gets to the basis of who we are as Americans.”

David Harding, a resident of Upper Arlington for 54 years, said that it was his “proudest moment seeing my fellow citizens here.”

“I encourage the board not to pursue this issue any further,” he said. “It was resolved back in August.”
http://www.gaypeopleschronicle.com/stories06/march/0324063.htm

[newyawker99]

7. Hi Xeric!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast: