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Our state House spent time Monday debating and passing House Resolution 1039, calling on Oklahoma libraries to "confine homosexually themed books and other age-inappropriate material to areas exclusively for adult access and distribution."

You can get the story and even an audio clip (aren't we getting fancy at the Media Division) at http://www.lsb.state.ok.us/house/MEDIAHME.htm.

The resolution is in response to a controversy taking place in the Oklahoma City Library system. Parents of a young library patron objected when their child came home with King and King, by Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland. The book apparently follows a classic tale. A prince comes of age and is expected to find a mate, but the ending is that he falls in love with the brother of one of the princesses coming to meet him.

This is a local controversy between a library system and the patrons it serves. Our legislature creates dangerous tones when getting involved in such matters. As a body with powerful control over public funds it casts a thinly-veiled threat to public libraries everywhere that such decisions shouldn't be left to local library boards.

By passing this resolution legislators also move the matter from administrative rules to a step away from legislation. The reason this is damaging is that legislation must be precise to be enforceable. Administrative rules can be more flexible and follow local standards. Past efforts at defining what is offensive at a legislative level have proven to be failures. We fight every charge of obscenity in the courts. One person's and one community's definition of offensive material doesn't hold to the next.

The saddest part of this move by the legislature is that such books can have a positive effect on young readers. It could lead to a learning moment where a child learns that not all families look like his or her family and that we live in a world filled with people who have different ideas, appearances and dreams. Respecting even those whose ideas bother us is far better than trying to force them to be like us. What a wonderful opportunity to teach peace over violence.

Carter
posted by Unknown at 10:59 AM