Ohio Library Pressured to Pull Free Gay Weeklies

http://www.ala.org/ala/alonline/currentnews/newsarchive/2005abc/july2005a/upperarlington.cfm

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Posted July 1, 2005.

Ohio Library Pressured to Pull Free Gay Weeklies

Officials of the Upper Arlington (Ohio) Public Library have sought legal counsel in the wake of demands by several area residents that the library stop making available in its lobby the free newspapers Outlook Weekly and Gay People’s Chronicle. Characterizing the publications’ library presence as “out front strictly for politically correct reasons,” resident Mark Bloom admitted to UAPL trustees June 14 that he and his four children have removed the newspapers and thrown them in the trash on several occasions. “I’m not a homophobe. This is just a no-brainer. These magazines have nothing to offer,” Bloom asserted, according to the June 22–29 issue of the weekly Upper Arlington News.

A member of the Upper Arlington Republican Club, Bloom was joined in his protest by club President and city council member Tim Rankin, who told the board he advocated removal of all sexually provocative materials, specifying the annual swimsuit issue of Sports Illustrated. “Do what’s right for Upper Arlington, not what people do in other communities,” Rankin urged.

Board President John Magill promised that trustees “will take all of this into consideration” but cautioned that “our response may not be the one you want.” Bloom replied, “I’m not going away until [the gay-interest weeklies] go away.” The board’s Operations Committee, which reviews all library policies, has placed on its July 7 meeting agenda a reexamination of guidelines about offering distribution space at the library for free publications.

UAPL Director Ann Moore, who did not attend the June 14 meeting, told the News, “I am sure there are gay people in Upper Arlington, and I run a library for everybody, including them.”

Posted July 1, 2005.