Relocating Sexuality Titles Isn’t Enough, Says Topeka Woman
Eight weeks after barring minors from checking out four books about sexuality, the board of the Topeka and Shawnee County (Kans.) Public Library voted April 16 to restore the titles to unrestricted circulation, according to the April 17 Topeka Capital-Journal. As a compromise, the 6–3 decision about Sex for Busy People: The Art of the Quickie for Lovers on the Go, The Lesbian Kama Sutra, The Joy of Sex, and The Joy of Gay Sex stipulated that the books remain where they were relocated after trustees approved the temporary restriction in February: the Health Information Neighborhood collection in the library’s adult materials section, which children and teens tend to avoid anyway, trustee Bob Harder assured the board.
However, several days before the vote was taken, complainant Kim Borchers of Kansans for Common Sense Policy had declared herself dissatisfied with the books’ relocation, as well as an alternate option that would have barred patrons younger than 13 from borrowing the titles altogether. “If I supported one [option], we wouldn’t be going through this,” she had said in the April 14 Capital-Journal.
The two options that trustees chose between were submitted at their request by TSCPL Director Gina Millsap. The board sought to comply with the state’s harmful to minors statute while shielding the library from a First Amendment lawsuit as threatened in February. Although Kansas law gives schools and libraries an affirmative defense if an employee in his/her professional capacity gives a minor sex-themed materials, Borchers had contended in late 2008 that the library was violating the law by offering age-neutral access to the four sex manuals.
Declaring that her group would lobby the legislature to remove the library exemption so trustees can “actually respond to their public instead of the ACLU,” Borchers said in the April 18 Capital-Journal: “There are a lot of good people who work at the library, but there also are some people who are doing a disservice with the way they purchase books. The people who are purchasing books are pushing the envelope on purpose because they know nothing can be done right now.”
Posted on April 21, 2009. Discuss.