The father of two teenage boys wants $20,000 from his city after his sons found a book on lesbian sex on a public library bookshelf. Earl Adams of Bentonville, Ark., is also requesting that the library director be fired, ac cording to KOCO TV in Oklahoma City. The boys, ages 14 and 16, were searching for material on military academies but came across The Whole Lesbian Sex Book by Felice Newman. Adams said that finding the books “greatly disturbed” his sons and that the book caused “many sleepless nights in our house.”
Adams faxed a letter to the mayor of Bentonville, Bob McCaslin, which stated that the book is “patently offensive and lacks any artistic, literary, or scientific value.” The maximum amount that can be paid in damages for obscenity under Arkansas is $10,000 per victim. However, according the the report, city attorney Camille Thompson dismissed Adams’s claim as baseless because the book is not pornographic. "There is not a valid legal concern here," Thompson said in the article. "In fact, the request for money made me question his motivation."
The library’s board voted to remove the book from circulation since the incident, with one board member saying the library would replace it with one that takes a more clinical approach. According to the article, the book has been deemed appropriate for public libraries by the trade publication Library Journal, which the Bentonville library consults to stock its stacks.
Adams wrote in an e-mail to KOCO TV that he would fight any effort to put the book back in circulation, threatening “legal action and protests from the Christian community.” (The Advocate)
In early May, ABFFE and NCAC joined a number of free speech advocates in sending a letter to the school board opposing the censorship of The Whole Lesbian Sex Book. See NCAC's Joint letter to Bentonville Mayor and Library Director About Removal of The Whole Lesbian Sex Book