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Arkansas Man Wants Library Fined over Lesbian BookThe father of two teenage boys has asked city officials to fine the Bentonville (Ark.) Public Library for keeping The Whole Lesbian Sex Book by Felice Newman on the open shelves where his sons could find it. Earl Adams said his 14- and 16-year-old sons discovered the book in January while browsing for literature on military academies and were “greatly disturbed,” causing “many sleepless nights in our house.”Adams wants the city to pay him $10,000 per child, the maximum allowed under Arkansas obscenity law. “God was speaking to my heart that day and helped me find the words that proved successful in removing this book from the shelf,” Adams said in the April 20 Springdale Morning News. City Attorney Camille Thompson said the book was not pornographic and Adams has no “valid legal concern.” After receiving his original complaint, the library advisory board voted April 3 to remove the book from circulation and look for a similar, less graphic resource for the open stacks. “I thought we had a very intelligent—I almost want to say high-minded—discussion about the book,” said board member George Spence. Library Director Cindy Suter told the paper that she disagreed with Adams’s conclusion that having Newman’s book in the library follows an “immoral social agenda,” adding, “My focus was to develop an inclusive collection and not an exclusive collection.” Posted April 20, 2007. |
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