AkCLU Sues Anchorage
over Removal of Library Display
The gay-pride exhibit that Anchorage Mayor George Wuerch ordered removed from the Z. J. Loussac Public Library has found a home at the University of Alaska/Anchorage Campus Center pending the outcome of an Alaska Civil Liberties Union lawsuit against the city.
“We thought it was important to have it up so people could see for themselves what the controversy was all about,” Jim Mohr, chairman of Anchorage PrideFest, which sponsored the exhibit, told the June 19 Anchorage Daily News. The exhibit was installed at the library June 4 and removed the next day, according to the AkCLU lawsuit, filed June 13. At the city’s request, the suit has been moved from state to federal court.
Wuerch said he found the exhibit promotional and inappropriate for display in the library. Jennifer Rudinger, executive director, countered that “in this type of public forum, the government may only regulate the time, place, and manner of speech—not the content of the speaker’s message or the viewpoint being expressed.” The mayor’s office has been flooded with messages both supporting and objecting to his action.
The five-day PrideFest celebration kicked off June 20 at the Loussac Public Library with a reception that displayed photographs of the banned exhibit, which featured posters and a rainbow-colored “Celebrate Diversity” banner but nothing sexually explicit.
Posted June 25, 2001.
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