Gay book ban goal of state lawmaker

[lousyskater]

That's already happening, like in Canada where certain types of anti-homosexual speech have been declared hate crimes.

so, if anti-homosexual speech isn't a hate crime, i guess a homosexual giving an anti-heterosexual speech isn't a hate crime either? or is it just that if you agree with it, it's automatically not a hate crime? and how is pestering an abortion clinic worker during their off-time with "baby killer" signs not harrasment?

 

[troutk13]

so, if anti-homosexual speech isn't a hate crime, i guess a homosexual giving an anti-heterosexual speech isn't a hate crime either? or is it just that if you agree with it, it's automatically not a hate crime? and how is pestering an abortion clinic worker during their off-time with "baby killer" signs not harrasment?

Three questions from lousyskater:

1) so, if anti-homosexual speech isn't a hate crime, i guess a homosexual giving an anti-heterosexual speech isn't a hate crime either?

I think you're onto something there.

2) or is it just that if you agree with it, it's automatically not a hate crime?

Hmm. . .All signs point to NO.

3) and how is pestering an abortion clinic worker during their off-time with "baby killer" signs not harrasment?

And how is that question relevant to the book banning issue?

 

[lousyskater]

Three questions from lousyskater:
3) and how is pestering an abortion clinic worker during their off-time with "baby killer" signs not harrasment?

And how is that question relevant to the book banning issue?

it's not relevant to the issue, it's relevant to the fact you seem to think that following around abortion clinic workers in their off-time isn't harrasment.

 

[troutk13]

it's not relevant to the issue, it's relevant to the fact you seem to think that following around abortion clinic workers in their off-time isn't harrasment.

And what would give you that impression?

 

[Pah]

LOL. . .you are a hoot Jensa. You choose to repackage "free speech" in the wrapper of harrassment. And using an example that certainly isn't pertinent to our current dialogue.

Let me ask you this:

Should books be banned from the public library that give explicit instructions for the creation and deployment of nuclear weaponry?

No

Show me the part in the constitution where carrying a sign outside an abortion clinic is harrassment.

Where the distance of the sign from users and workers is deemed harrasment. I could find the case if you insist.

Bob

 

[Pah]

I must say that some of the questions and responses are straying from the topic or lead to a divergence of the topic.

The topic is book banning for suppression of homosexuality. Should either of those be government actions.

pah

 

[painted wolf]

Book banning in general is wrong. Banning with the intent to suppress a specific group of people is doubly so. Anyone who thinks that people become gay because they liked a gay character in a book is IMHO an idiot. The idea of a 'government aproved' reading list is Orwellian and abhorant to me. Its like banning Harry Potter because it will make kids want to be witches. :banghead3:

wa:do

 

[robtex]

Wonder what the response rate to it is and what local gay communites are saying about it. Somebody needs to find a gay person in his gene line who is still alive and can go head to head on this one.

 

[Pah]

ACLU of Alabama Condemns Proposed Bill that Would Ban State Funds for Lesbian and Gay Books

December 2, 2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: [email protected]

Statement of Olivia Turner, Executive Director of the ACLU of Alabama

BIRMINGHAM, AL - The bill proposed by Representative Gerald Allen that would ban books about gay and lesbian people from public libraries is bad public policy, unconstitutional and just plain wrong. If passed, Alabama's libraries would be robbed of works by celebrated authors such as Herman Melville, Tennessee Williams, Willa Cather, Carson McCullers, John Cheever, Alice Walker, James Baldwin, Truman Capote and Gore Vidal, to name a few on what will be a very long list.

If this bill becomes law, it is also likely to entangle Alabama, once again, in costly litigation that will deprive the people of Alabama of money badly needed to improve education and human services.

Libraries hold a special place in our culture. They are places where people are given the information to make up their own minds about issues and where libraries -- not politicians -- decide what books should be included in their collections based on input from the communities they serve. The ACLU is committed to ensuring that they stay this way.

 

[Bastet]

This is every bit as stupid as the bill in Texas changing all school textbooks so that they specifically say 'husband and wife', instead of using "asexual stealth phrases" like 'married couple' and 'partner'...because phrases like that teach kids that being gay is ok, and furthers the "gay agenda". The bill passed, btw.

 

[Runt]

Wow, before you know it, they'll be trying to ban EVERY book that references something Christians believe to be a sin.

Madame Bovary should be banned because it includes adultry and suicide!

Medea should be banned because it includes murder!

Midsummer Night's Dream... hmm, a little too close to paganism, better ban it!

Brave New World features little kids who are said to have sex at school (ok, I'll admit that one's a little disturbing, but it still shouldn't be banned!)

Les Miserables... Jean Valjean steals a loaf of bread, and stealing is a sin!!!

Before you know it, the only books left will be See Spot Run and the Bible.

 

[Valjean]

So should we burn Newton's Principia ?......

 

[troutk13]

Before you know it, the only books left will be See Spot Run and the Bible.

. . .If you think the Bible is a G rated book, perhaps you should peruse it again. . .

 

[retrorich]

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."

The rest of the article here

Bob

WOW! I knew Jesusland would be bad. But I never expected it to get this bad, this soon.

I guess people who can believe in a God that doesn't exist can also believe in a "homosexual agenda" that doesn't exist.

Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today.
How I wish he'd stay away.