Glenn Beck's 'soldiers' ban pro-gay book from NJ high school

Members of Glenn Beck’s “9.12″ movement have successfully banded together to beat back a grave threat — a book of GLBT teens’ coming-out stories. A court case appears imminent.

Revolutionary Voices:A Multicultural Queer Youth Anthology (2000), voted in 2001 as one of the best adult books for high school students by School Library Journal, shares the coming-out and identity-finding stories of GLBT and sexually-questioning teens. The Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) calls it “the first creative resource by and for queer and questioning youth of every color, class, religion, gender and ability.”

The local chapter of Glenn Beck’s 9.12 Project — an organization Beck founded to demonstrate how much he loves America, by his desire to “re-found” it — complained to the Rancocas Valley Regional High School about the book and two others with gay themes, led by grandmother Beverly Marinelli.

“We did it for the children.”

Marinelli states unequivocally that she is “not a homophobe”. However, as a member of the socially conservative 9.12 Project, she and an unnamed fellow member have taken it upon themselves to rid South New Jersey high schools of any gay-themed materials. They have also filed a similar complaint in nearby Burlington County’s Lenape School District.

Back at Rancocas Valley, Superintendent Michael Moskalski met with students to get their opinion about the book before the school board vote. Their response? “Just because these books are in the library isn’t going to cause us to be gay. We have so much access to information, if we want to read something, we’ll read it.”

Marinelli insists, “We did it for the children.” One wonders which children Marinelli did it for. Was it for the teens questioning their sexuality, who turn to resources like this for support when they can’t turn to friends or family members?

The Kevin Jennings connection

Who lit a fire under the 9.12 members, suggesting that they hunt down gay-themed books? Revolutionary Voices editor Amy Sonnie has an idea.

“Last Fall, Beck began attacking Kevin Jennings, former director of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network. Picking up the torch, local chapters of Beck’s 9.12 Project are now requesting the removal of books that appear GLSEN’s book list. Mine included.”

Kevin Jennings is President Obama’s openly-gay “Safe Schools Czar”. This hardly fits with the second of Beck’s 9.12 Project Principles for the “re-founding” of America: “I believe in God and He is the Center of my Life.”

Free speech advocates involved

National Coalition Against Censorship, the National Council of Teachers of English, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, and People For the American Way Foundation joined in writing a letter to Rancocas Valley before the hearing. In part:

No one has to read something just because it’s on the library shelf. No book is right for everyone, and the role of the library is to allow students to make choices according to their own interests, experiences, and family values . . . Even if the books are too mature for some students, they will be meaningful to others.

Following the school board’s decision to ban the book, the New Jersey chapter of the ACLU became involved. Earlier this month, they sent an Open Public Records Act request to the school, demanding access to records surrounding the decision — including the complaint filed by Marinelli.

“The ultimate decision of whether a book can be removed does not rest simply on whether a few individuals or students may be offended,” said ACLU-NJ Executive Director Deborah Jacobs. “Decisions to censor literature should only be based on a standard set of neutral criteria unrelated to the political or social themes in the book.”

We may soon be seeing a court case over this issue. Will it be “9.12 Project vs. Free Speech”?

For more information:

ACLU-NJ’s Request

ACLU-NJ website

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Jenny Donati is webmistress and co-editor of Secular News Daily. Jenny is an outspoken secularist who believes firmly in the separation of church and state. She demands evidence to support arguments, and holds herself to the same standard. She doesn't write about herself in the third person . . . but there's a first time for everything.

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