Library to move ‘Gay’ book, others

WASILLA — The accidental discovery of a graphic, colorful sex education book will result in a much wider shake-up in the stacks of the Wasilla Public Library.

Controversy over “This Book is Gay,” a frank illustrated book with a rainbow cover featuring descriptions of sex acts and illustrations, flooded a city council meeting and a meeting of the reconsideration committee with parents concerned about children accessing the material. About 15 parents were barred from a Nov. 19 meeting of the reconsideration committee, despite an apparent invitation for the public to view the proceedings printed on the meeting agenda. The book’s author, United Kingdom writer James Dawson, is transgender, and has years of experience as a sex educator.

After being shut out of the committee meeting — which as a “quasi-judicial” board is exempt from Alaska open meetings law — about 50 parents showed up at a city council meeting Nov. 23 to express concerns about the book’s content and location, as well as the appeals process itself. Multiple speakers compared the book to pornography and the librarians to pedophiles, charges city council members and Friends of the Wasilla Library board members denounced.

In a decision issued Tuesday, a reconsideration committee composed of librarian Shelly Logsdon, Friends of Wasilla Public Library representative Julie Ede, and Fireside Books Owner David Cheezem acknowledged the need for a book to provide frank material approachably.

“Mr. Dawson is very frank in his presentation of information, and is filling a void in the current literary world in (Young Adult Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) literature,” the committee decision reads in part.

That means the book will stay on library shelves for the time being.

“As the library director referenced, there are teens that are struggling with their sexual identity in our community that will seek out this book to find information that they can relate to,” committee members wrote. “The committee feels this book meets the selection policy of WPL and meets a community need of information on this issue for the YA community.”

The book will be re-shelved to accommodate concerns over its content, but shouldn’t be placed in restricted areas, the committee ruled. That means changing the book’s Dewey decimal categorization to 613.9 (sex education) and moving it out of the juvenile section, committee members said.

“The committee believes that the library would not be fulfilling its mission if the book were placed in a restricted area, or if a young patron could not easily find the book without staff help,” committee members wrote. “The Committee wants the book to be accessible to those that need and want to read it without the patron feeling uncomfortable about taking the book off the shelf.”

But it’s not just “This Book is Gay” that’s getting a new home. All of the library’s Young Adult nonfiction books will migrate to the adult section, Mayor Bert Cottle wrote in a press release.

“All young adult non-fiction books currently housed in the downstairs of the Library will be moved upstairs and interfiled with the adult non-fiction books,” the press release reads. “This is over 300 books.”

Library director KJ Martin-Albright ultimately made the decision on re-shelving, Cottle said.

Cottle said he supported the decision.

“If we’re going to error, let’s error on the side of safety,” he said.

Campbell said she was pleased with both the decision to relocate “This Book Is Gay,” and the re-shelving of the other books. She called the tone of the debate at the Nov. 23 council meeting “unfortunate.”

“That honestly was not an issue to me,” she said. “The fact that people tried to turn this into an LGBTQ issue, that was a little hurtful and frustrating to me.”

Cheezem said the decision to limit the number of people who attended the Nov. 19 reconsideration committee hearing was correct. He also felt the tone of the Nov. 23 meeting clashed with Campbell’s relatively reasoned presentation before the committee.

“It felt like a mob,” he said. “I don’t think that’s putting it too strongly. I felt like some political people were hijacking Ms. Campbell’s issue, and you saw it at the city council meeting. I wasn’t at the city council meeting, but from reading the article, the people were going a lot further than Ms. Campbell.”

He also said the decision to expand the re-shelving didn’t contradict the recommendation by the committee and that he understood the reasoning behind it.

“It’s a much more difficult thing for a librarian to just move one book,” he said. “You’re not just deciding which book, you’re deciding on the category.”

Martin-Albright did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Contact reporter Brian O’Connor at 352-2270, brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com, or on Twitter @reporterbriano.