For those interested, here's a followup to my earlier post about the proposed Alabama book ban. Apparently the students at my alma mater are so up in arms about this, they're protesting—even though this is happening in another state. I will admit to feeling a slight twinge of pride at the fact that Tar Heels take freedom of speech so seriously.
http://www.cw.ua.edu/vnews/display.v?TARGET=printable&article_id=421c30b43885d
UNC students protest Ala. gay book bill
Allen says bill deters "unhealthy lifestyle"
by Nick Beadle
Metro/State Editor
February 23, 2005
A bill by state Rep. Gerald Allen, R-Cottondale, that would prohibit state funds from purchasing literature that acknowledges homosexuality or written by gay authors has already drawn the ire of some of Alabama's college students.
But students and faculty members at the University of North Carolina expressed their opposition to the legislation Monday and Tuesday by reading the texts that would be barred under the bill outside the Chapel Hill campus' student union.
UNC students wrapped up 24 hours of reading works that would be prohibited by the bill from authors Plutarch and Oscar Wilde on Tuesday at noon, said McKay Coble, a UNC dramatic arts professor who helped organize the event. Allen's bill was read at the beginning of each hour.
Coble said she was moved to act after being forwarded an e-mail from a Wellesley College student trying to set up protests around the country.
She said she was impassioned because she said she could not stand the possibility of Alabama students not being able check out works such as William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" or Alice Walker's "The Color Purple."
"I don't have any illusion that a protest in North Carolina will have much effect in Alabama, but you do what you do and you do what you feel," Coble said.
Olivia Henderson, a UNC senior majoring in dramatic arts, said she was influenced by her recent part in a production of Tony Kushner's "Angels in America" at the school.
"Tony [Kushner] is my favorite writer," she said. "The thought of other people not being able to experience him is just terribly sad to me."
Henderson said she was worried that Allen's bill could lead other states to adopt similar measures.
"We spent 24 hours saying, 'Watch out,' " she said. "This may be Alabama, but Alabama's not that far from North Carolina."
Allen said on Tuesday he knew of the UNC protests and similar ones across the country. He said he thinks protestors misunderstand the bill, which he said would only prohibit state funds from going toward books and programs that promote "unhealthy lifestyles" such as homosexuality.
"We're just looking at future spending," Allen said. "We're not going to take any books off of anybody's shelves -- today."
He said governmental moral reforms, such as constitutional amendments barring gay marriage, would be pointless if state funds were going toward school materials that push the agenda of the "liberal left."
He said if such action weren't taken to limit children's exposure to materials acknowledging homosexuality, they would accept the lifestyle and states' new gay marriage bans would eventually be repealed.
"If you keep on indoctrinating the children's minds and their hearts, that's what they're going to become and believe," Allen said.
Allen said such indoctrination could also lead to a lifestyle that is unhealthy because of diseases like AIDS. He compared his bill to efforts by schools to warn students of the dangers of smoking and drug abuse.
That assertion is "pretty stupid," said Howard Bayless, a board member for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender advocacy group Equality Alabama. He said Allen's bill promotes intolerance toward the state's homosexuals.
Bayless said homosexuality and other lifestyles can't be eradicated by cracking down on books.
"People are born this way," he said. "[Allen] might need to read a few more books so he can find out the truth."
Allen noted that the bill remains in the House Crimes and Offenses committee and could be altered. He said the bill could be limited to elementary or K-12 students, but said he would not offer up such an amendment.
