ABFFE
Defends Teacher Ordered to Remove Banned Books Week Pamphlet
ABFFE and the other
four national sponsors of Banned Books Week this week joined an English teacher and four
students in suing a Virginia high school principal who ordered the removal of a Banned
Books Week pamphlet from the door of the teacher's classroom. The lawsuit, filed in U.S.
District Court here, accuses principal C. James Slye of violating the First Amendment
rights of the teacher, Jeffrey Newton, and the students of Spotswood High School, part of
the Rockingham School District in western Virginia. The lawsuit, which is being brought
jointly by the ACLU of Virginia Foundation and lawyers from the New York office of
Sonnenschein Nath and Rosenthal, also names the school board and the superintendent of
schools as defendants.
The pamphlet that
Slye ordered removed was a list of the books that were challenged or banned in schools,
libraries and bookstores around the country in 1997-98. A version of the list is published
each year in connection with Banned Books Week, the national celebration of First
Amendment rights that began in 1982 and is held in September. Banned Books Week is
sponsored by ABFFE, the American Library Association, the Association of American
Publishers, the National Association of College Stores and the American Society of
Journalists and Authors.
Slye ordered the
pamphlet removed after a parent complained to a member of the school board. He told Newton
that the brochure contained three objectionable titles: The Joy of Gay Sex; Understanding
Sexual Identity: A Book for Gay Teens and Their Friends; and Women on Top: How Real Life
Has Changed Women's Fantasies. He threatened to take disciplinary action against Newton if
he did not remove the material. Ironically, Slye ordered the removal on September 29,
during last year's Banned Books Week.
After taking down the
pamphlet, Newton sought assistance from the ACLU. The lawsuit requests a court order
permitting him to once again post the Banned Books Week pamphlet on his classroom door.
"We created the
Banned Books Week list to show that even in a free society like ours there is always
someone who is trying to censor something," Judith F. Krug, the director of the ALA's
Office for Intellectual Freedom, said. "Principal Slye has proved our
point."
ABFFE President Chris
Finan praised Newton for refusing to accept his principal's order without a fight.
"Jeff Newton is defending not only his rights, but the rights of his students and the
rest of us. The Rockingham schools are lucky to have such a brave and passionate
teacher."
Ninth
Circuit Court of Appeals Overturns Child Pornography Protection Act
In 1996, Congress broadened the
child pornography laws to apply to sexually explicit images that "appear to be"
or "convey the impression" that they depict minors. When the Child Pornography
Prevention Act was challenged by the adult entertainment industry in California, ABFFE and
other members of Media Coalition submitted amicus briefs in both the district court and
the appeals court arguing that the law went far beyond the definition approved by the U.S.
Supreme Court. We believe that the court's definition of child pornography was intended to
prevent real children from being used in the production of pornography: it was not meant
to license the suppression of fictional images, which could come to include not only the
so-called "virtual" pornography targeted by the law but also drawings,
paintings, sculptures and potentially even words in novels like "Lolita."
In a 2-1 decision announced in
December, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit agreed, rejecting the law as an
effort at thought control. "....We determine that censorship through the enactment of
criminal laws intended to control an evil idea cannot satisfy the constitutional
requirement of the First Amendment," it declared.
Since the Court of Appeals for the
First Circuit has upheld the CPPA, it appears inevitable that the Supreme Court will have
to settle the disagreement in the circuit courts.
ABFFE
Urges California Supreme Court to Void "Son of Sam" Law
ABFFE has joined the Association
of American Publishers and others in asking the California Supreme Court to invalidate a
state law that violates First Amendment rights by depriving criminals of financial
incentive for telling their stories in books, magazines and movies. The law is known as
the "Son of Sam" law because it is similar to the law passed by the the New York
legislature in 1977 to prevent David Berkowitz, the so-called "Son of Sam"
killer, and any other criminal from profiting by the sale of their life stories without
first compensating their victims.
The U.S. Supreme Court struck down
major provisions of the New York law in 1986 when Simon & Schuster launched a legal
challenge to protect its contract with Henry Hill, the subject of Nicholas Pileggi's
"Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family." The court ruled that the law was so broad
that it might prevent the publication of books like "The Autobiography of Malcolm
X" in which the crimes of the author are a relatively small part of the story.
The California case was brought by
Barry Keenan, a participant in the 1963 kidnapping of Frank Sinatra, Jr., who reportedly
has sold his story to Columbia Pictures.
Fundraising
2000: ABFFE Launches Second Online Auction on February 21
ABFFE will sponsor an Internet
auction beginning February 21 that will enable booksellers, publishers and the general
public to support free expression by bidding online for new books (many autographed),
author visits, nights at luxury hotels, concert tickets and much more.
ABFFE conducted its first Internet
auction during BookExpo America last year, raising over $11,000 to support its First
Amendment activities. More than 50 auction lots were put up for bids, including books
autographed by Stephen King, Salman Rushdie, John Grisham and Dean Koontz, Internet
services from Baker & Taylor, New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles baseball tickets,
a night at the Hotel Le Meridien in Boston and video collections featuring James Bond and
Elvis.
ABFFE's online auction will run
through February 28. Anyone who is interested in bidding can visit the ABFFE Web site, www.abffe.com. A button on the home page will take them to
the auction. ABFFE will hold another Internet auction in conjunction with its traditional
Silent Auction at BookExpo America in June.
News
from Our Friends
ENID, Oklahoma--The National
Coalition Against Censorship reports that following a complaint by a group of black
ministers the school district committee has voted to recommend removing "Adventures
of Huckleberry Finn" from the required reading list for high school juniors.
LITTLETON, Colorado--NCAC reports
that "Native Son" has been challenged on the high school reading list because of
sexual scenes, violence and racial language.
MUSCOGEE COUNTY, Georgia--People
for the American Way reports that Muscogee County school officials were worried about the
picture of Emanuel Leutze's famous painting "Washington Crossing the Delaware"
that appears in the history textbook that their fifth graders use. Fearing that
Washington's watch, which lies across his right thigh, might be mistaken for the general's
genitalia, they used paint brushes to touch up the picture in 2,400 books.
PBS
Series Studies History of Censorship
On January 26 and February 2, many
PBS stations will air "Culture Shock," a four-part documentary dealing with
important facets of the history of censorship. Two parts will be shown on January 26:
"Born to Trouble: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" (9 p.m., Eastern Time) and
"The Shock of the Nude: Manet's Olympia (10:30, ET). Two more will air on February 2:
"Hollywood Censored: Movies, Morality and the Production Code" (9 p.m., ET) and
"Devil's Music: 1920's Jazz" (10 p.m., ET).
Previously in ABFFE Update
