Filed under: censorship | Tags: book burn, censorship, free speech, perks of being a wallflower, west bend, wisconsin
This story fired me up at first, then saddened me: West Bend, Wisconsin, is a community threatening to burn young adult books dealing with sexuality and other themes deemed “inappropriate” at the public library. Burning books? Come on. It’s 2009.
Not only is this a gay rights issue and a censorship issue, but one that imposes the religious values of a few on the books for an entire community. The book that started it all? The Perks of Being a Wallflower, which chronicles the awkward, heart-breaking adolescence of a freshman in high school.
According to a CNN report, this is an ongoing challenge for public libraries:
Book challenges aren’t new. More than 500 were reported in the United States in 2008, mostly in schools and public libraries, Deborah Caldwell-Stone of the American Library Association said.
But this one was attracting extra attention. Caldwell-Stone, who monitored the dispute, said moving any young-adult book to the adult section would have been a form of censorship, even if teens were free to check them out.
“The whole intent was shelving books not on the basis of age or reading ability, but because they disapprove of the content with the intent of restricting access. That’s a burden on First Amendment rights,” Caldwell-Stone said.
Let’s hope that some of the opposition to banning books in this community, including Maria Hanrahan, a blogger who opposes banned books in her West Bend community, garners the support they need:
“I’m against any other party telling me what’s appropriate for my child and what isn’t,” said Hanrahan, 40, who also created a West Bend Parents for Free Speech group. “We don’t mean to say these are appropriate for everyone, but we don’t feel they should be set apart from other materials or restricted from the young-adult section.”
It takes a whole lot of effort–and a whole lot of hate–to be so moved as to stir up controversy about a few library books. Is information that threatening to parents?
When did “gay” become a dirty word?
Towleroad posted an interesting observation this morning about the good censors from our paper of record, The New York Times. It seems that if you sent me a text or passed along an article via the iPhone, the word “gay” would be replaced with the word “beep”. Ridiculous.
Reminds me of the subtle yet immeasurable effects of classifying homosexuality as a psychological disorder by medical professionals until 1973, and a mental disorder by the Pentagon as recently as 2006. If doctors and government officials can tell us we’re not right, what hope is there for young folks struggling with their identity on their own?
You can send your own feedback to the NYT feedback here.
UPDATE: The NYT removed the word “gay” from its censored list. Less than 24 hours elapsed: their official word is that it was unintentional and an error.
Filed under: art, gay rights, social justice | Tags: byu, censorship, college, gay, mormon
And he’s a young photography student at Brigham Young University. His photographs depict–gasp!–people who identify themselves as homosexual. And accompanying each portrait is a kind of alter image: the face of a family member or friend who is supportive of the gay student.
Seems like a simple, lyrical concept that embraces gays and lesbians, and also shows their allies–loved ones, friends, and family–accept them, no matter their sexuality.
BYU is not alone in its university-sanctioned censorship (it’s just in the public eye because of its anti-gay support of Prop 8. As institutions dedicated to open dialogue and understanding, colleges and universities must be the last places of close-mindedness–opting instead to be leaders of tolerance.
Greg Lukianoff writes about the increasing intolerance of art, opinion, and literature in The Huffington Post:
Sounds crazy, but sadly it’s true. Students at the University of Oklahoma have been warned not to use their university e-mail accounts for “the forwarding of political humor/commentary” during this election season.
Meanwhile, anyone who has an actual opinion on the election should think twice about expressing it on a bumper sticker at the University of Illinois, or in their dorm window at University of Texas at Austin. In fact, students who hung an Obama sign in their window at UT Austin were threatened with expulsion.
Here’s the artwork of the BYU artist, sans censorship:
Pretty darn subversive work, huh? My hunch is Mapplethorpe would just shrug his shoulders at the controversy and move on.
