NCAC - National Coalition Against Censorship

» May 1, 2007 - Father seeks $20k in damages for lesbian book in library Earl Adams wants $20,000 from his city of Bentonville, Ark, after his sons found a book on lesbian sex on a public library bookshelf. He is also requesting that the library director be fired, saying that finding the books “greatly disturbed” his two teenage sons.

City attorney Camille Thompson dismissed the claim and stated that his request for money "made me question his motivation." The library’s board voted to remove the book from circulation, and replace it with one that takes a more clinical approach. Adams is now threatening “legal action and protests from the Christian community.” See NCAC's joint letter to Bentonville Mayor and Library Director About Removal of The Whole Lesbian Sex Book

» April 18 , 2007 - ‘Chocolate War’ to be cut from Harford schools’ curriculum Superintendent Jacqueline Haas will go before the Harford County Board of Education on Tuesday to announce that Robert Cormier’s “The Chocolate War” will be pulled from the mandatory ninth-grade “living in a contemporary world” class, despite a review committee’s unanimous ruling that it should be kept.

Parents came to Board of Education meetings throughout the summer to protest the book’s language, depictions of violence and references to sex. Several letters of concern were copied directly from the Web site of the advocacy group “Parents Against Bad Books in Schools.” See NCAC's Joint letter to Harford County Superintendent About Removal of The Chocolate War from Ninth Grade Curriculum

» June 7, 2006 - Central Piedmont Community College Cancels Scott Turner Schofield's 'Underground TRANSit' "I don't have Brad Pitt pecs or anything, but I look like a guy," said Schofield, especially since he began hormone treatment in October. "It basically came down to, if I didn't take off my shirt, I could do the show at CP. But that's censorship of my work."

» March 29, 2006 - Oklahoma Legislature Places Restrictions on LGBT-themed BooksThe Oklahoma legislature instructed libraries to restrict access to children's books with homosexual themes by shelving them in adult areas of the library.

» May 9, 2005 - Florida School District Blocks Gay Rights and Advocacy Groups' Websites Palm Beach County schools' computers are blocked from accessing sites about LGBT lifestyles, advocacy, and health, while sites denouncing homosexuality (and advocating that gays be "turned straight") are readily available.

» July 12, 2005 - Parent Asks Fayetteville Schools to Purge Libraries of All "Vile and Gratuitous" Materials A parent in Fayetteville, Arkansas, who succeeded in getting the school to ban three sex ed books from school libraries, then asked the school to conduct a district-wide audit to purge the libraries of all materials that contain "vile and gratuitous sexual premises." The parent claimed that she found 70 such books after conducting her own audit.

» February 1, 2005 - PBS Bans Children's Show Episode Depicting Two Female Parents The Public Broadcasting System pulled an episode of a children's show, Postcards from Buster, when Education Secretary Margaret Spellings complained. In the segment, Buster, a rabbit, learns how maple sugar is made in Vermont at the home of children with two female parents. The Department supported the show to encourage diversity but "not to introduce this kind of subject matter to children," Spellings said.

» December 1, 2004 - Alabama Bill Would Prohibit Funds For Purchase of LGBT Books Alabama state lawmaker, Gerald Allen, has introduced a bill to "protect children from the homosexual agenda." It would prohibit public funds for "the purchase of textbooks or library materials that recognize or promote homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle." Doomed for destruction are novels with gay protagonists and textbooks that describe homosexuality as "natural." "I guess we dig a hole and dump them in and bury them," Allen reportedly said.

» December 2, 2003 - Second Grader Disciplined for Using the Word "Gay" in School A seven-year-old student at Ernest Gallet Elementary School in Lousiana was disciplined for telling another child that his mother is gay and explaining that "gay is when a girl likes a girl." He was sent home with a teacher's note saying, "This kind of discussion is not acceptable in my room." The child was required to write several times, "I will never use the word 'gay' in school again." The ACLU has asked the district to apologize for violating the child's constitutional rights. The school board has scheduled a special meeting to consider the teacher's actions.

» July 18, 2003 - Student Disciplined For Speaking About Being Gay Wins Settlement An Arkansas student who was disciplined by his junior high school for speaking about being gay, won a $25,000 settlement from the Pulaski County Special School District and an apology from school officials. He was forced to read scripture against homosexuality, and was "outed" to his parents, according to the ACLU lawsuit. The school district agreed that it will not again disclose a student's sexual orientation or punish a student for talking about sexual orientation outside the classroom.

» October 21, 2003 - Photographs Removed from College Exhibit Photographer John Trobaugh's work, showing male dolls in coupled poses, was removed from display in Shelton State Community College because they were considered "offensive" and "controversial." The controversial character of the work resided in the possibility that it might be interpreted as endorsing homosexuality.

» March 10, 2003 - Teacher in Brooklyn Disciplined for Assigning "Pornographic" Book A veteran English teacher at Brooklyn Technical High School, Todd Friedman, was disciplined by his principal, Dr. Lee McCaskill, for assigning Russell Banks's highly acclaimed novel, Continental Drift, to a student for supplemental reading. A parent called the book "pornographic" and Dr. McCaskill took unilateral action, putting a warning letter in the teacher's file. The controversy went to conciliation after which the principal ruled that all teachers must seek approval from the assistant principal before teaching books which have not "previously been approved."

The ruling stifles academic freedom. It prevents teachers from exercising their professional expertise and selecting materials they consider pedagogically valuable. It chills their creativity and lowers their morale. The losers are the students whose intellect will no longer be challenged by teachers seeking to enrich the curriculum.

See NCAC's Letter to New York City Department of Education Chancellor

Also see NCAC Follow-up Letter to the State Education Department

» October 1, 2001 - L.A. Art Show Canceled by City Under Threat of Community Violence The Los Angeles City Cultural Affairs Department canceled the new exhibition, "War," by L.A.-based artist Alex Donis. The show is comprised of a painting series of fictionalized pairings of LAPD officers and gang members in same-sex dancing poses.

» July 13, 2001 - Censored Gay Pride Exhibit in Anchorage, Alaska Reinstalled A gay pride exhibit was removed from the Anchorage public library on orders from Mayor George Wuerch. The Gay Pride Month exhibit, meant to "encourage discussion and dispel myths about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons". The exhibit went up Monday night and was taken down by the time the library opened on Tuesday morning. A district judged ordered Anchorage, Alaska to reinstall a gay pride exhibit at Z.J. Loussac Library after ruling that the city's library policy was too vague.

» Summer 2001 - Arts Organization Attacked for Advocating LGBT Lifestyle, Wins Arts Funding A San Antonio arts organization won a major victory for public funding of the arts when a district court judge ruled that city officials violated the First Amendment by denying the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center a $62,000 grant in 1997, contrary to the recommendations of its own arts council.

» July 24, 2001 - Play Depicting a Gay Christ-like Figure Under Attack
Corpus Christi, the Terrence McNally play depicting a gay Christ-like figure, is under attack at Indiana University-Purdue University, Fort Wayne. Protestors intend to file a law suit if the play is not banned. The University won't cave. "We still believe that the First Amendment and academic freedom apply," said Chancellor Michael Wartell.

» Spring 2001 - LGBT Biographies Challenged in California Junior High School
Biographies about gay and lesbian heroes in American life are under attack in Orangeview (CA) Jr. High for spilling the beans that gays can be notable. James Baldwin, Willa Cather, John Maynard Keynes, and Martina Navratilova, are among those some would put back in the closet.

» April 28, 2000 - Harding University Disinvites Author After Reading Her Novel Based on Gay Man's Murder When Harding University invited author Bette Greene to speak on their campus, they may have been aware of her novels Summer of My German Soldier and Philip Hall Likes Me, but they may not have known about The Drowning of Stephan Jones, a book that was inspired by the murder of a gay man. Could this have had something to do with why the school disinvited Ms. Green from her speaking engagement?

David Crouch, the director of public information, denies ever inviting Greene in "The Harding Response" (Arkansas Times)

Winter 1999 - Gay Themed Book Back on Wisconsin School Library Shelves
Eau Claire schools restored four gay-themed books: Baby Be-Bop, When Someone You Know Is Gay, The Drowning of Stephan Jones, and Two Teenagers in Twenty went back on the shelves when the district settled an ACLU lawsuit.

»February 1999 - LGBT Books Withstand Challenges in Texas
A federal court confirmed that library books may not be moved/removed from a Wichita Falls, Texas library by a petition of 300, as the city council had legislated. The books, Heather Has Two Mommies and Daddy's Roommate, had been reinstated last fall when the policy was temporarily enjoined

Summer 1998 - Sex-related Words Banned From Use in New York City School District
Abortion, contraception, homosexuality and masturbation are words that aren't discussed in New York City's Community School District 24. The Board adopted a policy in 1987 to delete those words from curriculum materials. "Ask your parents," is District 24's pedagogical response to kids' questions. Now a Board member says the policy is too lenient and wants to ban all mention of those subjects anywhere on school grounds.

» Summer 1998 - Indigo Girls' School Concerts Allegedly Cancelled Due to Protests Against Their Sexual Orientation Cancellation of concerts by the popular folk-rock artists, Indigo Girls, at high schools in South Carolina and Tennessee, set off a series of protests by students who say that the concerts were canceled because the singers are lesbian. Many students were suspended for protesting. Ironically, the Grammy award-winning Indigo Girls had arranged a free concert tour of high schools to encourage students' musical interests after they had judged a Scholastic Magazine lyric writing contest.

Winter 1997 - North Carolina School Officials Bury Gay-themed Books
In North Carolina, Hertford County school officials buried a gay-themed book and 2,000 others deemed "inappropriate" in a landfill. The books were among 30,000 donated to the school system by the international charity group, World Vision and Feed the Children, distributed to needy school districts by Communities in Schools, a national group based in Alexandria, Virginia.

» Fall 1996 - Salò Returns to Cincinnati The Pink Pyramid, a small gay and lesbian bookstore in Cincinnati, faced fines and prison sentences for obscenity charges brought after undercover police rented a videotape of Pier Paoo Pasolini's anti-fascist film Salò. The store agreed to pay a fine, and the video has been returned to the store.

» Summer 1996 - Gay Family Exhibit Draws Fire and Support An art exhibit that depicted the diversity of families, was attacked in Amherst, Massachusetts by opponents who brought a lawsuit to have it banned from further showings in public schools.

» December 1995 - Religious Right Organization Pushing for Libraries to Adopt its Agenda Family Friendly Libraries, a religious right group, is organizing a nationwide campaign to pressure librarians and boards of trustees to repudiate the "infamous" Library Bill of Rights, the strongly anti-censorship policy statement of the American Library Association. They are urging local communities to adopt their charter in its place.