The Fate of Gay and Lesbian Books? Banned in Barron

Staff -- School Library Journal, 12/1/1998

Baby Be-Bop, the highly praised novel by Francesca Lia Block, is one of four gay and lesbian books at the center of a censorship controversy pitting members of the Barron (WI) Area School Board against the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

On September 21, the school board voted to ban the books from the local high school library. The board's decision, which was in response to a local resident's complaints, denies students' their First Amendment rights, said Chris Ahmuty, executive director of ACLU of Wisconsin. In October, ACLU urged the board to reverse its position. If the board fails to comply, "legal action is certainly an option," noted Ahmuty.

The board's decision overturned two earlier recommendations: one, by a reconsideration committee, which had voted to keep the books; the other, by District Administrator Vita Sherry, who had favored retaining two of the titles.

In addition to Baby Be-Bop (HarperCollins, 1995), the banned books include When Someone You Know Is Gay (Evans, 1989) by Susan and Daniel Cohen; Two Teenagers in Twenty (Alyson, 1994) edited by Ann Heron; and The Drowning of Stephan Jones (Bantam, 1991) by Bette Greene. The censored titles had each earned mostly favorable reviews from School Library Journal and reviewers at other publications.