
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 24, 1993                   TAG: 9306240082
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: FAIRFAX                                LENGTH: Short

FREE GAY NEWSPAPER REMOVED FROM LIBRARIES

Parents and others upset about a gay newspaper's availability in libraries are removing entire stacks from the shelves.

"I consider the Blade to be garbage," said Douglass Delorge of Fairfax. "If people are concerned about their children reading this kind of thing, I would certainly advocate taking it out of the library yourself and throwing it out."

The Washington Blade is disappearing from libraries in Montgomery County, Md., and Fairfax County, according to a report in the Fairfax Journal. Some librarians said they simply replenish their supply of the paper, published in Washington D.C., when the copies are gone.

Opponents and supporters of the paper clashed earlier this year when county officials heard public debate about whether to keep the paper in the libraries. Officials voted to keep the paper.

Library officials don't monitor its distribution because it is free.

"You can't accuse someone of stealing something that's free," said Phylis Salak, chairwoman of the Fairfax library board.

But Blade Publisher Don Michaels said taking all the papers is theft. He has hired people to monitor distribution points in libraries.

by CNB