From: dwthoma1@eos.ncsu.edu (DAVID W THOMAS)
Subject: Kids' book about gay father sets town abuzz: Raleigh News & Observer
Originator: dwthoma1@steely.ece.ncsu.edu
Reply-To: dwthoma1@eos.ncsu.edu (DAVID W THOMAS)
Organization: North Carolina State University, Project Eos
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 04:19:12 GMT


The News_&_Observer (Raleigh, NC) had 2 articles on Friday (July 24, 1992)
with motss relevance.  (See also "Gays in military prove unpopular")

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
Newsgroups: soc.motss,talk.politics.misc,alt.individualism,alt.activism