Subject: Book Controversy Continues
From: Will Nich <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 1 Jan 1998 12:37:07 EST

GAY BOOK CONTROVERSY CONTINUES

from The Letter - Kentucky's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender newspaper

Two local right wing groups in Louisville are urging their followers to
protest inclusion of three gay African-American novels in a collection of 200
books being offered to students in Dee Hawkins' classroom at Central High
School.

The novels--"Invisible Life," "Just As I Am," and "This Too Shall Pass"--were
written by E. Lynn Harris, a popular gay African-American.  The books, which
contain sexually explicit language, may be taken out by Hawkins' students as
long as the parents submit written permission.

The controversy erupted when one student took one of the books home without
first receiving permission from her mother.

"First they removed prayer and the Ten Commandments," wrote Frank Simon,
Kentucky's leading anti-gay crusader, founder of Freedom's Heritage Forum and
director of the American Family Association of Kentucky, in a newsletter
mailed to his supporters in late December.

"Now they want to teach homosexual pornography to 14 year old children!"  He
went on to note that "Homosexual acts are the leading cause of AIDS in
America...It is also not surprising that we are having so many murders
(Paducah and Louisville).  The public schools are using our tax money to
promote evil and discourage good."

In the past, Simon has attempted to link homosexuality with violence:  a
favorite theme of his mentor, Dr. Paul Cameron.

On November 12, a Jefferson County Public Schools committee voted 4-2 to allow
the books back on the shelves at Central High.  It forwarded the
recommendation to Superintendent Stephen Daeschner, who will make his own
recommendation and past it on to a Site-Based Decision Making Council at
Central for final action.

Simon is urging his followers to contact members of the Site-Based Decision
Making Council and tell them to remove the books from Central High School
permanently.

To counter Simon's attacks, The Letter, a GLBT newspaper based in Louisville
is urging members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community and
its supporters to contact the following people to urge them to KEEP the Harris
books on the shelves in Dee Hawkins' classroom.  Their contact information is
as follows:

Ed Jarbo
1842 Deerwood Avenue
Louisville, KY  40205

Grant Wallace
4212 S. Brook Street
Louisville, KY  40214

Velma Saylor
1006 Cherokee Road, #3
Louisville, KY  40204

Shelby Lanier
(no address given)
502/966-4211 (home)

Virgil Fitzpatric
927 S. 47th Street
Louisville, KY  40211

Herald Fenderson
Central High School Principal
1130 W. Chestnut St.
Louisville, KY  40203
502/485-8226 (school)