call to ban and bury "gay" books

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Irvine511

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From the Birmingham (Alabama) News:

Gay book ban goal of state lawmaker
Wednesday, December 01, 2004

KIM CHANDLER

News staff writer

MONTGOMERY - An Alabama lawmaker who sought to ban gay marriages now wants to ban novels with gay characters from public libraries, including university libraries.

A bill by Rep. Gerald Allen, R-Cottondale, would prohibit the use of public funds for "the purchase of textbooks or library materials that recognize or promote homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle." Allen said he filed the bill to protect children from the "homosexual agenda."

"Our culture, how we know it today, is under attack from every angle," Allen said in a press conference Tuesday.

Allen said that if his bill passes, novels with gay protagonists and college textbooks that suggest homosexuality is natural would have to be removed from library shelves and destroyed.

"I guess we dig a big hole and dump them in and bury them," he said.

A spokesman for the Montgomery-based Southern Poverty Law Center called the bill censorship.

"It sounds like Nazi book burning to me," said SPLC spokesman Mark Potok.

Allen pre-filed his bill in advance of the 2005 legislative session, which begins Feb. 1.

If the bill became law, public school textbooks could not present homosexuality as a genetic trait and public libraries couldn't offer books with gay or bisexual characters.

When asked about Tennessee Williams' southern classic "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof," Allen said the play probably couldn't be performed by university theater groups.

Allen said no state funds should be used to pay for materials that foster homosexuality. He said that would include nonfiction books that suggest homosexuality is acceptable and fiction novels with gay characters. While that would ban books like "Heather has Two Mommies," it could also include classic and popular novels with gay characters such as "The Color Purple," "The Picture of Dorian Gray" and "Brideshead Revisted."

The bill also would ban materials that recognize or promote a lifestyle or actions prohibited by the sodomy and sexual misconduct laws of Alabama. Allen said that meant books with heterosexual couples committing those acts likely would be banned, too.

....


I have no idea how to react to this.
 
:huh:

That's truly disturbing. Can you imagine all the books that would have to be destroyed? Get rid of the Greco-Roman shelves. The Canterbury Tales might be a bit suspect. Chuck out Marlowe except for Doctor Faustus. How much of the Restoration will need to be purged? And on, and on, and on....

What is our country coming to? :(
 
Irvine511 said:
"Our culture, how we know it today, is under attack from every angle," Allen said in a press conference Tuesday

Couldn't be bothered to read past this point. If the guy can't speak in clear and coherent English his comments on homosexuality are hardly worthy of consideration.
 
Re: Re: call to ban and bury "gay" books

Mildred said:


Couldn't be bothered to read past this point. If the guy can't speak in clear and coherent English his comments on homosexuality are hardly worthy of consideration.

Well, when you don't read good literature because it smacks of homosexuality, you don't learn good English. We can enjoy even more sentence mangling in the future.
 
Re: Re: Re: call to ban and bury "gay" books

AvsGirl41 said:


Well, when you don't read good literature because it smacks of homosexuality, you don't learn good English. We can enjoy even more sentence mangling in the future.


well put.
 
That makes me sick. My state will be next (Arkansas). I might be tempted to sponser a Bible-Baptist book ban of my own!


riverfari
a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle
 
DaveC said:
this couldn't possibly pass...


...could it...?

No.

This is a cheap political tool to draw attention to oneself and look like a "champion" against the "homosexual agenda" for his constituents.

Politicians frequently propose laws that will not pass or will not meet Constitutional scrutiny so they can say they took a stance.
 
It's not going to pass. It's pushing and shoving. If it does pass, there's going to be quite a few people who want Christian books banned in return. This guy's too far right of center to get what he wants done.
 
nbcrusader said:


No.

This is a cheap political tool to draw attention to oneself and look like a "champion" against the "homosexual agenda" for his constituents.

Politicians frequently propose laws that will not pass or will not meet Constitutional scrutiny so they can say they took a stance.


absolutely. i'm reminded of John Thune who defeated Daschle in SD and his "lesbian running rampant in our public schools ... won't let girls go to the bathroom together" and Fritz Hollings in SC who beat Inez Tennanbaum who stated that gay people (as well as single mothers) shouldn't be allowed to teach in public schools.

why do these tactics seem to work?
 
U2democrat said:
Alabama :rolleyes: Not surprising. I don't know how Verte survives down there.

It's tough right now. I am about to explode with anger. This guy is going to be receiving a suitably irate note from me sooner rather than later. :mad: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored: :censored:
 
even if it were to pass it would be struck down by the supreme court as unconstitutional. It still makes me sad to know that people think this way :tsk:
 
If we were to ban gay books, we'd have to ban lustful books long before it, along with evolution books. That pretty much means burn down a few libraries. This guy's agenda hardly makes sense. He can disagree with homosexuality if he wants, but banning books is not going to stop it.
 
What's the benefit of banning and burying these books? :scratch: There's worse things out there than homosexuality.
 
Then we should ban all books that have any kind of sex, vilolence, or anything controversial for that fact...oh wait that would include the Bible.
 
Irvine511 said:



absolutely. i'm reminded of John Thune who defeated Daschle in SD and his "lesbian running rampant in our public schools ... won't let girls go to the bathroom together" and Fritz Hollings in SC who beat Inez Tennanbaum who stated that gay people (as well as single mothers) shouldn't be allowed to teach in public schools.

why do these tactics seem to work?

Actually, you got both of those wrong. The lesbian thing was said by Tom Coburn, the Senator-elect from Oklahoma.

Fritz Hollings is a retiring Democrat. Jim DeMint is the guy who beat Inez, and doesn't want single mothers teaching.
 
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BonoVoxSupastar said:
Then we should ban all books that have any kind of sex, vilolence, or anything controversial for that fact...oh wait that would include the Bible.

Heh, heh. I seem to remember some stories about a guy who was friends with prostitutes. We don't want our kids getting the wrong ideas ....
 
strannix said:
Jim DeMint is the guy who beat Inez, who doesn't want single mothers teaching.
That's rather strange. Does he want single mothers working at all?
 
strannix said:


Actually, you got both of those wrong. The lesbian thing was said by Tom Coburn, the Senator-elect from Oklahoma.

Fritz Hollings is a retiring Democrat. Jim DeMint is the guy who beat Inez, and doesn't want single mothers teaching.


sorry, you're right -- i should be more careful when i google.

:yikes:


still, the spirit of the post stands.
 
Macfistowannabe said:
That's rather strange. Does he want single mothers working at all?


he didn't want them working in schools because he didn't think their lifestyle choice -- to have children without being married -- was an appropriate one for children to emulate.

since all 6th graders want to grow up and be exactly like their teachers, as we all know. 11 year olds think their teachers are the coolest.

:coocoo:
 
If we're going to ban books, why not ban romance novels? Those really screwed me up. I would read about inexperienced virgins being ravaged by virile men and exploding in orgasmic bliss and think the first time I had sex would be mind-blowing. Instead, I lied there thinking, "What the fuck was that?"
 
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