What "reasoning" did I use, by the way?
I merely asked this question: How does a ban on public funds get twisted into a ban of something?
Posted on 12/01/2004 3:48:43 PM PST by pete anderson
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.
His bill also would prohibit a teacher from handing out materials or bringing in a classroom speaker who suggested homosexuality was OK, he said.
Allen has sponsored legislation to make a gay marriage ban part of the Alabama Constitution, but it was not approved by the Legislature.
Ken Baker, a board member of Equality Alabama, a gay rights organization, said Allen was "attempting to become the George Wallace of homosexuality."
Aside from the moral debates, the bill could be problematic for library collections, said Jaunita Owes, director of the Montgomery City-County Library, which is a few blocks from the Alabama Capitol.
"Half the books in the library could end up being banned. It's all based on how one interprets the material," Owes said.
E-mail: kchandler@bhamnews.com
This part's fine -- the rest is fascist garbage.
This is a very scary proposition. What's next? There are scenes of incest in the Bible. Would this be banned as well?
Good point. The Bible would be out.
So encouraging more of this is a good idea?
HIV Found in More U.S. Gay, Bisexual Men
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20041201/ts_nm/aids_cases_dc_7
Reproductive parts are simply not made to be shoved into elimination organs.
Yes, this bill would ban he Bible.
Doh. Me stupid. Sorry.
I recall something about a prostitute and a gay teacher... I'll have to ask my kid, I read it sometime in the early eighties.
I remember the hooker. She was a "great conversationalist".
No, I don't recall the Bible promoting Sodomy, etc.
All powers not specifically given to the Federal Government are reserved to the states. States have the right to protect it citizens from sodomite literature.
Again, this really is up to the citizens of the Sovereign state of Alabama.
Here's some legal fun:
1) There's a gay character in a novel that's the protagonist, but he's portrayed as evil.
2) There's a gay character in a novel, and he's the protagonist, but he's portrayed as a complex character with some bad points and some good points.
3) There's a character in a novel that is devoid of sexual acts, the character is never actually called gay or homosexual, but the character is described as speaking with a lisp, dressing neatly with great skin, enjoying techno music, driving a Miata, who dances well, is a big fan of Bette Midler, and likes to vacation at Fire Island.
So which of these books get pulled from the library? And how much time do Alabama Courts spend deliberating this?
I wouldn't like it, but that is THEIR RIGHT.
Show me WHERE it says that.
However, there are heterosexual indiscretions in Bible and would violate Rep. Allen's standard.
Nice argument for 1861; ridiculous in 2004. If Alabama or any other state was fascist enough to pass this, which they aren't, the Federal Courts would block enforcement of the law until SCOTUS shot it down 9-0.
What "reasoning" did I use, by the way?
I merely asked this question: How does a ban on public funds get twisted into a ban of something?
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