Tacoma School District Bans Gay High-School Book
(Tacoma, WA) – School officials at University Place have removed a book about gay teens from the Tacoma school district's library shelves after receiving what they say was a “number” of parent complaints.
Superintendent Patti Banks said she was alarmed by the “romanticized” portrayal of sex in Geography Club, written by Tacoma resident Brent Hartzinger. In the book, a teen meets a stranger at night in a park after meeting the person (later revealed to be a gay classmate) in an Internet chat room.
She said her decision was not due to the book’s gay content.
“We want to send a strong, consistent message to all our students that meeting individuals via the Internet is extremely high-risk behavior,” Banks wrote in a letter earlier this month to two parents who requested the book's removal. "To the extent that this book might contradict that message, I have determined it should not be in our libraries, in spite of other positive aspects (e.g., a strong anti-harassment theme).”
Parent Connie Claussen said she disagrees with Banks' decision and plans to appeal to the School Board.
“It is about gay students,” Claussen says. “However, the most important part of the book is that it's about bullying, outcasts, about tolerance. This is a really good book for any student to read.”
In the 2003 book, a teenager thinks he's the only gay student in his high school until he learns that his online, gay chat room buddy is a popular athlete at his school. The teen meets others, and they form the school Geography Club, thinking the name will be so boring no one else will join.
Banks had Geography Club withdrawn from Curtis Junior and Senior high school libraries after a couple with children in both schools filed a complaint in October asking the district to remove the book.
They wrote that reading the book could result in a “casual and loose approach to sex,” encourage use of Internet porn and the physical meeting of people through chat rooms.
Article provided by www.GayLinkContent.com. For more information,contact us at info@gaylinkcontent.com . Reprinted with permission by 4 Gays Web Hosting and 1 Body GLBT Christian Resources
Superintendent Patti Banks said she was alarmed by the “romanticized” portrayal of sex in Geography Club, written by Tacoma resident Brent Hartzinger. In the book, a teen meets a stranger at night in a park after meeting the person (later revealed to be a gay classmate) in an Internet chat room.
She said her decision was not due to the book’s gay content.
“We want to send a strong, consistent message to all our students that meeting individuals via the Internet is extremely high-risk behavior,” Banks wrote in a letter earlier this month to two parents who requested the book's removal. "To the extent that this book might contradict that message, I have determined it should not be in our libraries, in spite of other positive aspects (e.g., a strong anti-harassment theme).”
Parent Connie Claussen said she disagrees with Banks' decision and plans to appeal to the School Board.
“It is about gay students,” Claussen says. “However, the most important part of the book is that it's about bullying, outcasts, about tolerance. This is a really good book for any student to read.”
In the 2003 book, a teenager thinks he's the only gay student in his high school until he learns that his online, gay chat room buddy is a popular athlete at his school. The teen meets others, and they form the school Geography Club, thinking the name will be so boring no one else will join.
Banks had Geography Club withdrawn from Curtis Junior and Senior high school libraries after a couple with children in both schools filed a complaint in October asking the district to remove the book.
They wrote that reading the book could result in a “casual and loose approach to sex,” encourage use of Internet porn and the physical meeting of people through chat rooms.
Article provided by www.GayLinkContent.com. For more information,contact us at info@gaylinkcontent.com . Reprinted with permission by 4 Gays Web Hosting and 1 Body GLBT Christian Resources
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