From: gklein@uoft02.utoledo.edu (Gary Klein, bear at heart)
Newsgroups: soc.libraries.talk
Subject: <None>
Date: 29 Jul 92 13:49:09 EST
Organization: Carlson Library, Univ of Toledo

X-POSTED from SOC.MOTSS, as this would be of particular interest to Librarians.
                                                        (Gary Klein):

In article <1992Jul27.041912.9891@ncsu.edu>, dwthoma1@eos.ncsu.edu 
   (DAVID W THOMAS) writes:
> 
> The News_&_Observer (Raleigh, NC) had 2 articles on Friday (July 24, 1992)

> This article (duplicated below w/o permission) is titled:
> "Kids' book about gay father sets town abuzz" by Donna Seese, Staff writer.
> 
> In the side lines, the article included a photo of the book's cover
> and the excerpt: 
> 
>    Mommy says Daddy and Frank are gay.  At first I didn't know
>    what that meant. So she explained it. Being gay is just one
>    more kind of love.  And love is the best kind of happiness.
>    Daddy and his roommate are very happy together.  And I'm 
>    happy too!
> 
>     -- "Daddy's Roommate" by Michael Willhoite.
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Goldsboro [NC] - A children's picture book has this town of 41,000 debating
> the merits of censorship vs. open access to controversial information in
> the Wayne County Public Library.
> 
>   The book, an attractive, colorful volume called "Daddy's Roommate," is
> about a little boy whose parents divorce because the father is homosexual.
> It is intended to help young children cope with having a gay parent.
> 
>   Some parents say the book is inappropriate for children and should not
> be displayed where any youngster could pick it up.  They want it removed, or
> at least put in a drawer where patrons must request the book to see it.
> 
>   Other parents say it's a valuable resource for families struggling with
> the discovery that one parent is homosexual.  They want the book left on the
> shelves.
> 
>   Library Director Therese Bigelow says it's not the library's job to play
> traffic cop between people of different opinions, and the book should stay
> on the shelves. 
> 
>   "Within this community there is no unanimous vote about the book," she
> said.  "Does a vote determine our materials, or am I correct that the role
> of the public library is to anticipate the community's needs?  We're not
> left, we're not right, we're in the middle."
> 
>   The library's board of trustees, which has received 10 letters opposing
> the book, held a public hearing last week at which both supporters and
> opponents spoke.  It will decide the book's fate at a special meeting Aug.
> 21.
> 
>   Leading the opposition is Karen Grant, who was shocked when she found her
> 6-year-old son browsing the book's pages on a library visit in March.
> 
>   "I was very angry and upset," said Grant, who wants parents to have a say
> in choosing children's books in the future.  "I feel as though the book is
> trying to change my child's values .... We want to impart our values, not
> have the library impart its values."
> 
>   The pictures in "Daddy's Roommate," accompanied by a few lines of text,
> show Daddy and Frank, his partner, in a variety of activities from playing
> catch to watching TV.  One picture shows Daddy, wearing pajamas, shutting
> off the light beside the bed he shares with Frank.
> 
>   Grant said "Daddy's Roommate" doesn't take the child's point of view, but
> instead tries to justify the gay parent's actions.
> 
>   But at least one Goldsboro family disagrees.  The parents divorced seven
> years ago because of the father's homosexuality --- and the  mother turned
> to the library for help in explaining to her three sons what happened.
> 
>   The family asked not to be named because the father still works in
> Goldsboro [an Air Force town, dwt].  He could not be reached for comment
> Thursday.
> 
>   "I see it as trying to make a little boy feel like his Daddy is not a bad
> person," the mother said of "Daddy's Roommate."  She and her ex-husband
> searched all over -- including the library -- for children's books they
> could use to explain their situation when they divorced.
> 
>   "Daddy's Roommate" would have answered some questions and eased some
> anxiety if he could have read it years ago, said their son, Matt, 17.
> 
>   "Adam and I both read the book and we think it would be a great deal of
> help to cope with it," he said. "It would put a kid's mind at ease about
> what his family's going through instead of slamming a Bible at him."
> 
>   Shirley T. Jones, a member of the library board, said she understands and
> supports Grant's desire as a parent to screen books before her children read
> them.  But she said it's up to parents, not the library, to do so.
> 
>   "Parents and only parents have the right and responsibility to restrict
> access to their children -- and only their children -- to library resources,"
> she said.  "I feel like no one has the right to tell you what your child
> can read.  That's a public library and it's charged with the mission to
> provide resources that meet the needs of the entire community."
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> David W. Thomas
> dwthoma1@eos.ncsu.edu
-- 

                                               "Librarian, Leather bound"
Gary Klein,   Business Librarian,  (Univ of Toledo)           * * * * 
PO Box 12650                  Toledo OH  43606-0250            *   *   
(w): 419-537-2629      fac2813@uoft01                            *   
(h): 419-243-2740      fac2813@uoft01.utoledo.edu         B4 t+ w- g s+ k