Oklahoma City's Metropolitan Library Commission has identified 12 social issues that it deems sensitive enough when treated in a children's book to warrant the title being restricted to the parenting collection established by commissioners last fall. The 12 restricted categories are alcoholism, child abuse, child abuse prevention, child sexual abuse, child sexual abuse prevention, domestic/family violence, drug abuse, extramarital sex, homosexuality, medication abuse, premarital sex, and substance abuse.
"Please do not insult me and others like me by passing this reprehensible proposal that segregates us and equates us with child abuse, drug abuse, and family violence," Rev. Dr. E. Scott James, who said he is gay, asked commission members before they okayed the guidelines in a 12-1 vote. Four commissioners were absent.
"Our commission, while divided, voted to retain the materials in the children's area and not limit access," library Executive Director Donna Morris told American Libraries. The titles in the parenting collection will be limited to the reading-level categories of easy, easy-reader, and tween, and selected by staff members based on their judgment of which subjects "would indicate that guardians might want to control the time and manner at which children are introduced to a topic," the revised library policy states. She went on to say that commissioners are hopeful that the new section will be "a positive collection for parents and children."
Posted February 17, 2006; revised February 21, 2006.
1 comment:
So isn't premarital sex one type of extramarital sex? And aren't alcoholism, drug abuse, and medication abuse all types of substance abuse? It makes sense, of course, that they wouldn't want their children exposed to "prevention," since imposing this kind of ignorance is a type of child abuse. If we pretend like it doesn't exist, it can't hurt us, right?
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