OK House Passes Bill Restricting Gay-Themed Books

This article originally appeared in SLJ’s Extra Helping. Sign up now!

Laura B. Weiss -- School Library Journal, 3/29/2006

The Oklahoma House voted 60 to 33 on March 15 to deny state funding to libraries that fail to segregate gay-themed and “age-inappropriate” books. The measure now goes to the Senate, where opponents are predicting that the measure won’t muster enough votes to pass.

Critics labeled the bill censorship and say there’s no funding to carry out the mandate, according to The Associated Press. Democratic Representative Ray McCarter says small rural libraries, which lack room for separate facilities, will have a hard time complying with the new rule.

Other opponents also blasted the bill. "I refuse to live under the Taliban," says Representative Debbie Blackburn (D-Oklahoma City). "I refuse to live in Iran. This is America."

Saying that children deserve a period of “protected innocence” to shield them from sexually explicit material, the bill’s author, Republican Representative Sally Kern, says such material is turning young people into "sex machines."

"You can't sell toothpaste without sex," says Kern. "The American Library Association is out to sexualize our children."