Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 5, 1994 TAG: 9410050088
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Two library officials and the principal advocate for removing "Daddy's Roommate" from preschool readers sections of libraries in Blacksburg, Christiansburg and Floyd will appear on "At Issue with Bob Denton" at 8:30 p.m. on WBRA (Channel 15). WBRA videotaped the discussion Sept. 14.
"Daddy's Roommate," a slender picture book, tells the story of a young child going to visit his divorced father and his father's gay lover on weekends.
Library Board Chairwoman Nancy Hurst and Director Karen W. Dillon present the Library Board's stand against moving the book to another part of the library. Nita McNerlin, a Blacksburg mother, explains her request for a special collection for books dealing with sexuality and other sensitive topics. They remain far apart at the 30-minute program's conclusion.
"As far as I'm concerned, the Library Board has spoken," said Hurst on the possibility of a compromise. Added Dillon, "Moving the book is censorship."
Their comments are in line with the conclusion reached last week by the Fairfax County Library Board, which initially favored setting up a separate section for adult-themed books on Sept. 14. Conservative Christians had lobbied for a system to segregate books on homosexuality, violence, the occult, suicide and euthanasia from the general collection. But facing criticism from the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, civil libertarians and parents, the Library Board there reversed itself.
In Montgomery County, the "Daddy's Roommate" issue has never gone beyond the Library Board's 5-3 vote in April, though not for want of trying. McNerlin, leader of the effort to segregate the book, presented a 1,000-name petition to the Montgomery supervisors in June, asking that they deny tax money to the Library Board until it removes the book from the "Easy Readers" section, designed for beginning readers.
The library system gets approximately $900,000 in county tax money annually. The supervisors took no action on the request, though library officials anticipate a renewed push during the budget process this winter. McNerlin has been careful to couch her opposition in legal terms, but other opponents have objected to the book on moral grounds.
On Denton's progam, McNerlin said Hurst's stand troubles her. "What we're asking for is so reasonable, I don't understand why there can't be some give on their part."
Denton, head of Virginia Tech's communications studies department, opens the program with a page-by-page display of the slim picture book as he reads the text. Michael Willhoite's book depicts a young boy going to visit his divorced father on weekends. His father is homosexual and lives with a lover named Frank. The illustrations show the men embracing, eating, shaving, singing and sleeping together. No sexual acts are shown.
"Mommy says Daddy and Frank are gay. At first I didn't know what that meant, so she explained it. Being gay is just one more kind of love, and love is the best kind of happiness," the text reads.
McNerlin said she objects to the book because sodomy is illegal in Virginia. "The actions that go along with the homosexual lifestyle are actually against the law."
Denton asks if she would still object to it if the General Assembly rewrote the law. "I probably still would not want my child to have access to it so readily, which is what I believe most of the citizens in Montgomery County, who are the taxpayers" want, she said.
Hurst argues that a public library is a repository of many different ideas and themes, not all of them legal. She says such material should be available to all people and it should not be the librarians' responsibility to monitor what children are reading.
Dillon points out the library also carries books for young children on being the child of an interracial couple and other sensitive subjects. "It helps children in that particular situation to understand themselves," Dillon said. Of "Daddy's Roommate" in particular, Dillon said, "It may not be the best book on the topic, but frankly, there are just a handful of those sort of books in publication."
"Daddy's Roommate" is the topic of tonight's "At Issue with Bob Denton" at 8:30 p.m. on Roanoke public-television station WBRA (Channel 15).
by CNB