by Cross Talk
During Banned Book Week, librarians go to great trouble to erect displays of all the books that have been banned down through the years and to hand out lists of all the censored books. But wait just a minute. Some books are still frequently banned in libraries, like books from former gays who have been set free from their deathstyle through Jesus Christ. So where is the uproar about those banned books? One group is raising that issue and is calling on the ALA to include books by ex-gays in their list of banned books. If censorship is always wrong, then these librarians who are so passionate about access to information need to let ex-gays have their say in public libraries as well. Here’s the release from PFOX.
CHICAGO, Oct. 6 /Christian Newswire/–In recognition of the goals of Banned Books Week by the American Library Association (ALA), Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX) is requesting the ALA to include ex-gay books in its annual promotion of ALA’s “celebration of the freedom to read” program.
“For several weeks, PFOX has attempted to secure a statement from the ALA opposing the censorship of ex-gay books,” said Regina Griggs, executive director of PFOX. “According to Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, ALA policy recommends diversity in book collection development by libraries, regardless of partisan or doctrinal disapproval. However, Caldwell-Stone refuses to state whether that diversity policy includes ex-gay books.”
“Books about leaving homosexuality are censored in most high school libraries, although gay affirming books for youth are readily available,” said Griggs. “For example, Charlie Makela, supervisor of library services for Arlington County, Virginia public schools, rejected PFOX’s donation of ex-gay books although she accepts books from gay groups. Ms. Makela is also the chair of the ALA’s Supervisors’ Section of the American Association of School Librarians. Shouldn’t the ALA enforce its own diversity policy?” Click here to read this entire article.
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