The ACLU of Wisconsin has asked the Barron Area School District Board to reconsider the removal of four books about gay teens from school libraries there. In August District Administrator Vita Sherry overruled the Reconsideration Committee's decision to retain Baby Be-Bop by Francesca Lia Block and When Someone You Know Is Gay by Susan and Daniel Cohen. However, when she declined to pull Two Teenagers in Twenty by Ann Heron and The Drowning of Stephan Jones by Betty Greene, complainant Karen Williams turned to the school board, which barred the books September 21.
In an October 6 statement, ACLU of Wisconsin Executive Director Chris Ahmuty cautioned that although school officials have a legitimate role in promoting community values, they may not prohibit library books simply because they dislike the ideas they contain. Ahmuty cited a memo Sherry wrote the Reconsideration Committee criticizing the Cohen book for implying that people can interpret biblical references to homosexuality in any way they wish.
Posted October 12, 1998.