Features
Censorship suit filed after school pulls gay biographies
SANTA ANA — Two students sued the Anaheim Union High School District for removing 10 biographies on homosexuals from their school library in what they contend is a violation of constitutional free-speech rights.
The Orangeview Junior High School students said in the U.S. District Court lawsuit that the district censored a book series called “Lives of Notable Gay Men and Lesbians.”
The books include biographies on tennis player Martina Navratilova, economist John Maynard Keynes, and writers Willa Cather and James Baldwin.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the suit Thursday on behalf of the two unidentified students, demanded that the district immediately return the books to the library shelves.
“We all know why these books have been banned,” ACLU attorney Martha Matthews said. “The books were banned because they had a positive statement to make to kids about gay and lesbian people.
“The books were banned because of deep-seated prejudice.”
Principal Barbara Smith removed the books and took them to the district office in September, the suit said. No reason was given by administrators, Orangeview library teacher Chris Enterline said.
“In my heart, I know it’s because they are about gays and lesbians, and it says so on the front of the book,” Enterline said.
Federal and state constitutions forbid schools from banning books because officials disapprove of their viewpoints.
Enterline said she ordered the books over the summer because the library lacked biographies and she wanted students to have the chance to learn about gay and lesbian role models.
“The books are not about sex. They are just about people who have led interesting, productive lives and also happen to be gay,” said Tom Kovac, the school’s library technician.
It isn’t the first time the district banned books.
Two years ago, the district removed the Pulitzer Prize-winning book “Beloved,” by Toni Morrison, because of complaints that it was too graphic in its descriptions of a slave who kills her daughter instead of having her live as a slave.
