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By EARTHA MELZE
Friday, May 27, 2005
WASHINGTON — Congressman Walter Jones (R-N.C.) has introduced a bill
that would withhold federal education funds from states that don’t require
schools to establish parental advisory committees to review materials before
they are purchased by school libraries.
Congressman Jones’ office did not return calls seeking comment, but
in an online statement Jones said that the purpose of the legislation, the Parental
Empowerment Act of 2005, H.R. 2295, is “to empower parents at a local
level and shine a light on controversial books before they are purchased.”
This is not Jones’ first effort on matters of communication and its
limits. Jones has repeatedly introduced a bill that would remove the restrictions
that bar clergy from endorsing candidates from the pulpit. He also led efforts
to rename French fries “freedom fries.”
Jones said that he became interested in the gay book issue after parents in
Wilmington, N.C. complained that their child’s school library carried
the book “King and King,” a fairy tale in which two princes get
married.
King and King, by Dutch authors Linda De Haan and Stern Nijiland was published
in the United States in 2002 by Tricycle Press.
Beverley Becker, associate director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom
at the American Library Association said that the ALA disapproves of Jones’
bill because it is intended to prevent schools from buying books on controversial
topics.
School libraries already have material selection policies that are approved
by school boards, Becker said. She added, all libraries have policies and procedures
to respond to parental concerns, and these policies require that a formal complaint
be filed.
“Libraries are local and have local policies designed by local people,
the federal government should not be telling local institutions how to run their
libraries,” Becker said.
According to the ALA, homosexual content is the issue in three of the ten
most challenged books. Sexual content and offensive language are the most common
complaints.
Becker said that she feels that this year’s upswing in homosexuality-related
book complaints is a response to gay marriage being in the news so much.
In the Wilmington case, the school system was able to resolve the issue with
“King and King” using their existing library policies and they ended
up putting the book in a special section for adults only. New Hanover County
School Board member Janice Cavenaugh said that though the school was able to
deal with the issue, “the inclusion of parents in the process of selecting
books would be beneficial in that it would prevent surprises at a later date.”
“This legislation would be laughable if it weren’t real,”
said Christopher Barron, the political director for the national gay rights
group Log Cabin Republicans. “Obviously we support age appropriate materials
but for Congressman Jones to grandstand like this is antithetical to Republican
values. We are supposed to be the party … that believes in returning control
and power to states and localities, and it is clear that Congressman Jones doesn’t
care about that.”
Barron said that the Log Cabin Republicans intend to watch this legislation,
but that it is not clear to him that the legislation will advance.
“Jones’ record so far has been a lot of talk little action,”
Barron said.
Proposals intended to limit access to books with homosexual content are also
being proposed at the state level.
In Alabama, Rep. Gerald Allen (R-Tuscaloosa) proposed a bill that identified
homosexuality as a crime and would have made it a class A misdemeanor for public
schools or libraries to use public funds for materials that deal with homosexuality
without condemning it. (Criminally negligent homicide is also a class A misdemeanor
under the Alabama code.) This bill died in committee.
The Oklahoma House passed a resolution introduced by Rep. Sally Kern (R-Oklahoma
City) that stated that public funds should not be used to make materials about
human sexuality available to children.
The resolution (which passed 81-3) stated that the passage of the Oklahoma
marriage amendment renders “materials promoting homosexual marriage inconsistent
with current law.” It also stated that “a survey showed that 88
percent of Oklahomans favored restricting the availability of homosexually-themed
books and over 50 percent of those favor withholding funds from libraries that
fail to do so.”
Though the Oklahoma resolution does not have the force of law, some representatives
have indicated that libraries that do not follow the resolution could have their
funding blocked.
A spokeswoman for Rep. Sally Kern said that Kern would only talk to press
that held favorable views about her legislation, that Kern was “gun shy”
about talking to reporters who are continually characterizing her as wanting
to ban or burn books.
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