Christians attack Fairfax County school librarians for ‘censoring’ their ex-gay book donations
”Donations should not be at the expense of minority populations or make the reader feel inferior…. These books were not research based. There were not facts to back it up.”
Susan Thornley, coordinator of library information services for Fairfax County, VA speaking by phone with WAMU radio news. A group of Christian student protesters are claiming censorship and a violation of personal beliefs because, they say, that they submitted ”reviews” of several pray-away-the-gay books to Fairfax County public school systems but were rejected by librarians. However, Thornley says the alleged reviews were taken either from church newletters or written by the ex-gay books’ authors themselves — not from recognized journalistic entities. And she added that, despite the protesters allegations, there were already books on the libraries shelves that presented a variety of views on homosexulaity. (WAMU) [Windows Media Player or RealAudio]
”I don’t need to read every book that is on the shelf. That isn’t the point. I’m not objecting to those books being on the shelf. I’m objecting to the fact that librarians who didn’t read our books looked at them on the counter and said, ‘No, thank you. This is Christian. We’re not going to accept it.”
Tom Bognanno, the father of Liz Bognanno, an student who has joined a group of Christian high school students that are trying to inject ex-gay literature in the Fairfax County, VA school library system. Most of the students protesters say they have not even read the “come out of homosexuality” books that they are pressing the libraries to accept. According to the WRC-TV news piece, the students and their parents are claiming that books that are currently on the shelves need to be “balanced” out because the have a “hateful view of Christianity.” (NBC4) The Virginia students wore the same, coordinated t-shirts bearing the pre-printed slogan, ”Closed books shut out ideas,” and their efforts appear to be supported by Colorado-based Focus on the Family.
”School librarians make a decision based on the school system’s regulations. The books in question were not age approprate, there were no reviews of the books, and a number of other things that did not meet the requirements of the regulations.”
Paul Reiner, spokesperson for the Fairfax County Public Schools in a statement released about several ex-gay books that Christian students are trying to force the school librarians to accept. (NBC4 video) It is said that all book donations may have to end in the County schools because of this and other similar efforts that Christian special interest groups continue to engage in.
”We hear . . . more and more that homosexuality is being promoted in schools. The word tolerance is often used, but a faith-based viewpoint is belittled or ridiculed.”
Candi Cushman, who flew from Colorado to be at the Fairfax library protest as a spokesperson for an initiative called ”True Tolerance” that is sponsored by the ultra-conservative, fundamentalist organization Focus on the Family. (Washington Post) On her group’s website, they boast of trying to donate 85 books on topics related to their ”Christian perspective” on homosexuality, but only one out of 13 schools accepted books, alleging that the other librarians called the books “too Christian” and “too one-sided.” (CitizenLink)
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