Gay materials targeted in Oklahoma library bill

Local libraries could be burdened by guidelines adopted by an Oklahoma house panel Wednesday to require materials containing sexually explicit or gay themes to be removed from general reading areas for children and young adults, library officials said. The bill, sponsored by Republican representative Sally Kern, would withhold state funds from public libraries that do not place the materials in a special area of the library.

The guidelines have been adopted by the state's two largest library systems, Oklahoma City and Tulsa, but officials said small libraries may have a hard time complying. "We're really concerned about it," said Jeanie Johnson, president of the Oklahoma Library Association. "The idea that we would restrict books really restricts freedoms."

Preliminary estimates indicate it will cost $826,000 to renovate small public libraries to create special areas for the material, Johnson said. There are more than 200 public and special libraries in Oklahoma.

Bill Young, spokesman for the state Department of Libraries, said the regulations tie compliance to the distribution of library funds by the state's seven-member library board. "We don't want to overburden smaller libraries. But we will follow the law if it is the law," Young said.

Kern said she wants a special shelving policy to shield children from language and behaviors they are not mature enough to understand. "It's protecting the future of our children," she said. "Sex is not bad. Sex is not wrong. It's the misuse of it."

Kern said the measure will encourage libraries to ensure that parents know the content of children's books before a child reads them. She said children exposed to sexual material without parental guidance often engage in risky behavior later.

"I'm not a Nazi. I believe in free speech," Kern said. "But for every right we have, there is a responsibility."

The measure passed the house appropriations and budget committee 14–4 and was sent to the full house for a vote. Democratic representative Ray McCarter debated against the measure. "What she's trying to do is put these rules in where they can't be accomplished," McCarter said. He said there is no practical way to segregate books from reading areas because of space limitations. "We'll just shut down a whole bunch of small libraries out there." He also said it is not the legislature's role to decide what books children should have access to. "Their parents are the ones who should be making these decisions for them. We shouldn't be shoving things down their throat."

Last year Kern asked the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Library Commission to place the book King and King and similar books in the adult section. She made the request after receiving complaints from two constituents who objected to the book's content. King and King is a children's tale about a prince who shuns princesses in favor of another prince. (AP)