From "Banned Books Week: Smoke screen of Hypocrisy" by Linda Harvey, posted 9/23/07 at WorldNetDaily.com
Libraries and schools throughout the country are ready once again to observe Banned Books Week. It's that special time each year when some in the library profession point an accusing finger at parents, especially Christians or conservatives who might dare to question the value or appropriateness of certain materials available to youth. For 25 years since its inception, Banned Books Week has been warning America: "Beware of the ignorance and repression of censors! They will deprive us all of valuable knowledge and freedom."
Setting aside any danger that the government might ban valuable materials, which is not happening in any community in America, let's strip away the spin and look at the facts. The supposed dangers are essentially phony. For there are several methods to "ban" a book from a school or library: someone can ask that something already in the library be removed, or, valuable books can be banned from consideration before they ever reach the shelves. This is the dirty little secret behind the bluster and outrage of Banned Books Week: private, library-initiated censorship is a routine practice throughout America.
Library selection committees are systematically purging libraries of any conservative or serious Christian viewpoints and instead, loading the shelves with left-wing propaganda and pornography. This year, the American Library Association is making a special to-do about the "dangers" of objections to "gay-themed books" especially those for youth. While it's doubtful this is an issue that keeps most Americans awake at night, it's important to recognize that as controversial social issues go, there is hardly a more hot-button topic, and one would think that all these "free-speech" advocates and defenders of philosophical liberties would be worried about any suppression of viewpoints on this high -profile subject. Don't the vigilant watchdogs of tolerance seek to protect a "diversity" of thought?
Well, the microcosm of my local library in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio, reflects what many are reporting from around the nation: Conservative materials on the issue of homosexuality are disappearing from the collection, or more often, never appearing in the first place. In researching the catalog of the Upper Arlington Public Library, I searched under titles, authors and subjects for books providing a responsible defense of traditional marriage and warning about the risks of homosexual behavior.
I searched under "homosexuality," "gay and lesbian," "traditional marriage," "Christian morality," "ex-gay," "ex-homosexual," and many other phrases. My search yielded four non-fiction books expressing a conservative viewpoint.
...And time doesn't even permit me to cover all the many offerings detailing homosexual, bisexual and group sex, nor the selections arguing for more tolerance and understanding of adults having sex with children – "intergenerational intimacy" is the new name for pedophilia.
In the section of the library aimed toward adults, I stopped counting at 100 pro-homosexual books..
Read the whole article.
