The father of two
teenage boys wants $20,000 from his city after his sons
found a book on lesbian sex on a public library bookshelf.
Earl Adams of Bentonville, Ark., is also requesting
that the library director be fired, ac cording to KOCO
TV in Oklahoma City. The boys, ages 14 and 16, were
searching for material on military academies but came across
The Whole Lesbian Sex Book by Felice Newman.
Adams said that finding the books "greatly
disturbed" his sons and that the book caused
"many sleepless nights in our house."
Adams faxed a
letter to the mayor of Bentonville, Bob McCaslin, which
stated that the book is "patently offensive and lacks
any artistic, literary, or scientific value."
The maximum amount that can be paid in damages for
obscenity under Arkansas is $10,000 per victim. However,
according the the report, city attorney Camille Thompson
dismissed Adams's claim as baseless because the
book is not pornographic. "There is not a valid legal
concern here," Thompson said in the article. "In fact,
[the request for money] made me question his
motivation."
The
library's board voted to remove the book from
circulation since the incident, with one board member
saying the library would replace it with one that
takes a more clinical approach. According to the article,
the book has been deemed appropriate for public
libraries by the trade publication Library
Journal, which the Bentonville library consults to
stock its stacks.
Adams wrote in an
e-mail to KOCO TV that he would fight any effort to put
the book back in circulation, threatening "legal
action and protests from the Christian
community." (The Advocate)
