Gay Newspaper Sues Georgia Library,
Charging Censorship
The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia filed a free-speech lawsuit October 2 on behalf of the Gay Guardian newspaper, claiming that the Ohoopee Regional Library System in Vidalia barred the Guardian from the library’s free-literature area. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Statesboro.
Plaintiff Ronald Marcus, editor of the Guardian, contends that library Director Dusty Gres banned the newspaper after receiving complaints about its content. According to court papers, a library staffer is alleged to have said that the publication’s withdrawal “was a religious issue, gays vs. Christians.”
“We don’t believe we have violated any rights,” Gres said in the October 3 Atlanta Journal-Constitution, explaining that the Guardian failed to follow procedure when it was added to the lobby collection. She added that the library is reviewing its display policy and has in the meantime removed all publications from the free-literature area except for government forms and federal scholarship applications. Marcus countered, “When the government suppresses views that it disagrees with, we should all be upset—gay or straight, it is completely un-American.”
Posted October 7, 2002.
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