Banned Books: Christians Fight Fire With Brimstone

During a week that librarians nationwide are highlighting banned books, conservative Christian students and parents showcased their own collection outside a Fairfax County high school yesterday — a collection they say was banned by the librarians themselves.

More than 40 students, many wearing black T-shirts stamped with the words “Closing Books Shuts Out Ideas,” said they tried to donate more than 100 books about homosexuality to more than a dozen high school libraries in the past year. The initiative, organized by Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family, was intended to add a conservative Christian perspective to shelves that the students said are stocked with “pro-gay” books. [Later in the story we learn the students did not say they had read any of the books chosen for them by Focus on the Family.]

Most of the books were turned down after school librarians said they did not meet school system standards. Titles include “Marriage on Trial: The Case Against Same-Sex Marriage and Parenting” and “Someone I Love Is Gay,” which argues that homosexuality is not “a hopeless condition.” [...]

Fairfax County’s policy on library book selection says “the collection should support the diverse interests, needs and viewpoints of the school community.” But library officials said donated and purchased books alike are evaluated by the same standards, including two positive reviews from professionally recognized journals.

The Focus on the Family initiative is aptly titled “True Tolerance“. In her book, Regulating Aversion: Tolerance in the Age of Identity and Empire, Wendy Brown argues that “tolerance” in effect becomes a license for intolerance.

As a gay man, I don’t want tolerance. I want “equality and justice for all.” For more on that, see my posts: Tolerance vs. Equality & Justice, Tolerance as intolerance, and The limits of tolerance.

Focus on the Family sees homosexuality as a disease infecting society and it is their God given duty to cleanse society of that disease. They will use any means necessary to demonize and exclude those of us who are gay.

Their stunt is a good one. But it’s time to call the question. As we’ll see in the upcoming elections, the larger society no longer agrees with them.

Photo above via Boing Boing from a ‘live’ Banned Book Display at Twin Hickory Public Library, Glen Allen, VA. Says Adrienne, “The best part has been hearing parents explain to their kids what the display is all about which is exactly what we wanted to happen!”

Thanks Holly!