Is his above personal desire actually written into the bill, or is that just from his own conversation with the reporter?
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
Is his above personal desire actually written into the bill, or is that just from his own conversation with the reporter?
Please elaborate upon the Constitutional prohibition to the above limitation upon public spending.
Good!
Good!
has this guy read the u.s. constitution?
Show me in the Bible where it mentions men & women comitting sodomy. (specifically)
No Federal Court would permit the destruction of novels and college textbooks based on a state law that has no respect for the First Amendment. It wouldn't even get to SCOTUS; any Circuit Court in the country would can this statute in a NY minute.
I wouldn't bet on that if I were you. The courts are becoming more aware of the rights of States than ever before. The more conservative the judge the better.
The Constitution doesn't protect smut.
It would not however, prohibit books that paint homosexuals in a negative light.
Constitutional issue in the making.
What's going to be the end result of idiotic moves like these?
Strict judicial scrutiny by the Federal courts, and class protection for homosexuals.
It doesn't protect jobs either, does it?
Except, the part that you quoted seems to be a personal preference, not code in the proposed statute. Bills and personal opinions can differ greatly, yet you avoided answering the only direct reference to the bill itself.
"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."
Sure they are. That's why Bowers v. Hardwick was just overturned THIS YEAR by Lawrence v. Texas. You might want to step out of that time capsule and look at the realities of American Constitutional Law in 2004.
They're sodomite books. Books about sodomites by sodomites. Would you want your children to read them?
If that's what it takes. We need a good purging.
The Bill itself is Constitutional Compost regardless of what spin is put on it. Go ahead and try to find a majority on SCOTUS that wouldn't laugh this thing out of Court. A state can't legally ban homosexuality since earleir this year, but you think it can enforce a law that provides for disparate funding of books based on whether gay people are in it? Good luck with that!
Thanks.
I was really hoping someone would ask that.
...eventually.
Mine is the kind of thinking that folks from the blue states can neither fathom nor stomach. Suits me right down to the ground.
Please point out the Constitutional problem with this:
"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."
Actually yes. Very Little TV in our home for the kids to watch. Instead, they embrace literature, especially books that are considered classics. My 14 year old was reading books listed a college reading list two or three years ago.
You see, reading literature delivers literacy and helps develop educated people.
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