The group Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays is working overtime to get lies into public libraries. Our friends at Queerty said today that PFOX was embarking on a public library project to get titles like Arthur Goldberg’s, “Light in the Closet: Torah, Homosexuality,” and “A Parent’ Guide to Preventing Homosexuality,” by Joseph and Linda Nicolosi.
The only way such titles should be in libraries is in the fiction section. These are essentially fake medical books without scientific backing. Librarians literally have millions of books to choose from – so why take books that have theories rejected by all medical and mental health organizations?
From Edge Boston:
Peter LaBarbera’ posting (Americans For Truth) announced that his organization and P-FOX would work together with what LaBarbera termed “other pro-family groups and ministries” in order, LaBarbera wrote, “to attain–at the very minimum–balance in the selections that libraries carry on the homosexual issue.”Added LaBarbera, “There is no logical or common sense reason why taxpayer-funded public libraries should make available every latest ‘gay’-affirming book–including those designed to open up young minds to the false and dangerous notion that homosexuality is normal–while NOT carrying faith-based and ex-’gay’ books that oppose a pro-homosexual ideology.”
It seems to me that barring political books posing as legitmate science-based material is quite logical. What next, a slew of books promoting that the earth is flat? When frauds like LaBarbera can show us real ex-gays who are not on the payroll of anti-gay organizations, then we might listen. Indeed, three of his poter boys (John Paulk, Wade Richards and Michael Johnston) have fallen off the hetero wagon. If there is one person in America who should know better than to promote ex-gay books, it is Mr. LaBarbera.
Rather than the fiction section, I think that a section devoted to superstition and pseudo-science might be more suitable for the kind of books that LaBarbera wants to see in public libraries. I noticed some years ago that the publishing company Astrolabio Ubaldini, Roma, which published the Italian versions of Edmund Bergler’ and Irving Bieber’ notorious books (now apparently out of print in Italy, thank God) was the one that also publishes books on astrology, fairies, gnomes, UFOs etc. — which strikes me as highly appropriate.
Note that LaBarbera says that he wants to attain this so-called balance “at the very minimum”. That sounds ominous. Does it mean that the attainment of “balance” would be only the first step, and that the next objective would be the banning of all “gay-affirmative” books and of all books that expose the “ex-gay” fraud for what it is? I suspect so.
As a (gay) public library Reference worker, I’m going to have to disagree with you on this one. We make no value judgment on a book. If it’s there, we will have it.
And before anyone gets too hard on public libraries, we have been in the forefront in making sure that EVERYONE has access to materials and information that they need for life, study, instruction, and entertainment.
Whether I like a book or not is irrelevant. Public libraries do not censor. Period.