At least they have the Internets?

[heidi]

So I know a lot of you have heard about the completely insane legislation proposed in the Alabama legislature which would bar the use of public funds for "the purchase of textbooks or library materials that recognize or promote homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle."

I haven't seen the whole bill, but from the articles, here's a few more things that it would ban:

State funds could not be used to pay for materials that suggest homosexuality is acceptable, including nonfiction books and fiction novels with gay characters.
It would ban materials that recognize or promote a lifestyle or actions prohibited by the sodomy and sexual misconduct laws of Alabama; books with heterosexual couples committing those acts likely would be banned, too.
It would prohibit a teacher from handing out materials or bringing in a classroom speaker who suggested homosexuality was OK

Regarding the last on the list, it is questionable whether the bar would apply to all classroom speakers on any subject, or if it would just bar a classroom speaker from implying or stating that in a classroom or academic speech. And as I understand it, this wouldn't just apply in public schools, but in all schools and libraries on all levels who get public funding, including all the state's universities. But if it was broadly applied, then you won't see any Elton John concerts at schools in Alabana - no Uni students could write papers on, say, Oscar Wilde, or even Buffy as a cultural touchpoint.

I'm wondering if it would even be used as an excuse to ban all the Harry Potter books, simply because of what Dudley, a "bad" character, says in OotP:
"Who's Cedric? Your boyfriend?"

Also, does Alabama still have anti-miscegenation statutes on the books, even if they're barred by federal law from being enforced? Because if that's the case, then gosh, that's enough to bar the HP books - forget Harry & Cho's snogging - we have Fred & Angelina. Yes, I am exagerating to make a point, but only in this paragraph.

And, of course, my legalese-arguments always manage to turn something like this to fanfic & fandom. If public funds weren't allowed to be used to enable students to acquire materials that recognize actions prohibited by the sodomy and sexual misconduct laws of Alabama (again, see anti-miscegenation statutes) then acceptance of any public funds that cover student internet access could require universities to block sites like FictionAlley, LJ, FFN, Salon Magazine, Newsweek, etc.

Uh oh. As soon as I get links to lists of contact numbers so people can make their voices heard about this bill, I'll pass it on.

ETA: You can find them in cleolinda's LJ:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/cleolinda/200223.html
http://www.livejournal.com/users/cleolinda/201333.html

Comments

[longtimegone]

If public funds weren't allowed to be used to enable students to acquire materials that recognize actions prohibited by the sodomy and sexual misconduct laws of Alabama (again, see anti-miscegenation statutes) then acceptance of any public funds that cover student internet access could require universities to block sites like FictionAlley, LJ, FFN, Salon Magazine, Newsweek, etc.

O_O *CLINGS* *MOVES* *CLINGS MORE*

I think that representative from Cottondale needs to find something to do. Like say... how about FOCUSING ON GETTING US OUT OF 49TH PLACE IN THINGS LIKE, OH SAY, EDUCATION. Ahem. You know. Minor details.

>:O

[longtimegone]

Also, does Alabama still have anti-miscegenation statutes on the books, even if they're barred by federal law from being enforced?

I think we actually voted to repeal that about two years ago. I'm not sure though. But I remember being astounded that (or something similar)is ALMOST DIDN'T PASS. o_O

For what it's worth...

[scoreboard.livejournal.com]

...the anti-miscegenation language was stricken from the state Constitution in 2000, albeit by a popular vote of only 60-40. The state is currently embroiled in a recount over a 50-50 vote to remove language from the state Constitution that prohibits the use of state money for integrated education and proclaims that there is no inherent right to an education in the state of Alabama.

Insane, yes...but until you've sat through a 20-minute prayer cribbed from the book of Lamentations, where "Jerusalem" and "Israel" are replaced with "Alabama" and "America," you have no idea just how insane these people are. But you can understand why I'm reluctant to give up my guns down there...and why I moved to California ;]

Re: For what it's worth...

[longtimegone]

Insane, yes...but until you've sat through a 20-minute prayer cribbed from the book of Lamentations, where "Jerusalem" and "Israel" are replaced with "Alabama" and "America," you have no idea just how insane these people are.

O______O

WTF? Wow. I claim immunity from the insanity label though.

Where did you live in ALabama? I'm in Birmingham.

Short version:

[scoreboard.livejournal.com]

born in Carraway
raised in Warrior
high school at Shades Valley RLC
BA from Birmingham-Southern
Tide fan
miss Milo's and Dreamland

=)

[trinity_clare]

One of my friendsfriends said this about that law:

Any Alabama child wanting to do a report on Walt Whitman, Abraham Lincoln, Gertrude Stein, Hans Christian Andersen, Oscar Wilde, Michaelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, several early church saints, the Boy Scouts, the 1980s, 20th century music, women's suffrage, the current vice-presidential family, or anyone who lived in Ancient Greece or Rome will soon be hard-pressed for sources.

Just about sums it up, don't you think?

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Hey! They forgot to mention a history of the impeachment of Bill Clinton.

Oops?


Good list, though!

[megd.livejournal.com]

Heidi, it's one politician's plan. Legislation will not begin until February. And it's from a guy who's in the middle of the Bible Belt. I have yet to see any mention that anyone else is even supporting him.

Yes, my state isn't as culturally elite as other state, but it is the result of the people. The people choose to believe whatever their hearts desire.

And anyone from Alabama will tell you that the Constitution of 1901 is in desperate need of an overhaul, we just haven't gotten to it yet.

But anyway, worrying over this piece of legislation is more than a little preemptive.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

But he's already proposed it. WHat's wrong with lobbying against it? Remember back in October when a piece of legistlation proposed by one or two reps on the draft got so much attention? This is sort of a parallel to that - the draft bill wasn't even up for consideration in committee when people started lobbying against it, and it was soundly defeated.

It's not like anyone wants college students in Alabama being required to learn a revisionist version of the Clinton impeachment, do we?

And that's not sarcasm - it's a definite posibility, if there was a law barring materials that recognize actions prohibited by the state's sexual misconduct laws.

[megd.livejournal.com]

Heidi, I realize he's proposed it. But I also know the areas he's from and the people who he represents. These are people who firmly believe that women are subserviant to their husbands.

It's all about context and the people he represents. Most likely, it's a ploy for reelection given that the people of his area like the idea. I highly doubt it will ever be something that comes up for a vote.

I'm just saying you need to consider the context that has driven the man to propose it.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Honestly? I don't care about his personal context. Anyone can live with whatever contexts they want - he can ban whatever he wants from his own home. I care about making sure that people know the impact of this law so they can (a) watch out for similar things in their own communities and states, and (b) if they livein Alabama or have family members who do, they can lobby against it.

If people who disagree with it didn't bother to speak up against it, what would stop it from becoming law?

[longtimegone]

Wordy McWord.

And surely Bush will come out against this extreme measure if it so clearly is a personal agenda.... I mean, hello! Karl Rove himself stated that Bush was against appointing Supreme Court justices "(who) feel free to pursue their own personal or political agenda".

So we KNOW he must frown upon state legislation of this nature.

< /sarcasm>

[anna-in-the-sky.livejournal.com]

I agree with Heidi. It doesn't matter what context that guy comes from or who he's trying to impress.

It's about making sure that these ideas don't become accepted or normal just because nobody thinks it's necessary to protest against them. It's about making sure that gay people aren't left to feel second class because no one stands up for them. It's what democracy is all about.

I'm coming from a country which violated democratic and ethic principles in the worst way possible. I'm talking about Germany, and the Third Reich. I'm pretty sure part of the reason for why this horrible part of history could happen was that people didn't take Hitler and his party serious enough in the beginning. They didn't think he or his ideas could be dangerous. We all know better today.

I absolutely don't want to compare the US or even this Alabama politician with Hitler or what happened in Germany sixty years ago, don't get me wrong. It's not the same.

And yet, all I'm saying is, if politicians do or say things opposed to your fundamental beliefs, fight against it, even if you think they're being ridiculous and no one will take them seriously anyway. Again, it's about making sure that these ideas won't be thought of as 'okay', 'acceptable' or 'normal' one day.

[bookshop.livejournal.com]

But I also know the areas he's from and the people who he represents. These are people who firmly believe that women are subserviant to their husbands.


Meg, with all due respect, I don't really appreciate being stereotyped this way. Not everyone from the rural South supports the rabid right-wing agenda--not even in Alabama. And context or not, nothing makes that agenda acceptable when it veers into censorship.

[megd.livejournal.com]

Aja, you misunderstood what I meant. I was refering to his district, not the entire South. This has nothing to do with the area you are from.

The people of Cottondale and the surrounding area was the only area I was speaking of. I wasn't agreeing with the agenda. Just giving a context to the man.

[aome.livejournal.com]

It means no Mercedes Lackey books in the public library, unless (if I'm understanding correctly), someone donated them privately.

I'm wondering if they banned Uncle Tom's Cabin or books depicting mixed-race marriage and the like during the Civil Rights movement.

Ergh.

[cirakaite.livejournal.com]

No Lackey, no Wild Swans, none of a whole host of fantasy and sf books that question the world we live in- Sheri Tepper, Nicola Griffith, Manda Scott . . . The list could go on forever, even before you touch on books that are commonly considered to be "literature." I mean, technically you could probably use it to ban Shakespeare's Twelfth Night . . .

[aquila1nz.livejournal.com]

Well very definitely you could use it to ban the bible, under their definitions of things.

[selinakyle47.livejournal.com]

The article also indicates the publicly funded universities and medical schools would also be subject to this law. I can't imagine what their libraries would look like if this passed. They'd probably have to bring back DSM-II.

[the-gentleman.livejournal.com]

Sounds kind of like Section 28 over here in England, though that was repealed a few years back, and the worst it got was a lot of confusion amongst teachers and social workers about what "promoting" homosexuality actually meant. But then, we don't seem to have that many people virulently against gay rights, so it was more a general cover-up than active persecution.

[auliana.livejournal.com]

*seethes*

*moves*

Oh by the way...

[scoreboard.livejournal.com]

...when they come for Potter, it won't be for any non-traditional sexual themes or implications, it'll be for promoting witchcraft and Satanism. (Don't forget that Alabama includes Gardendale, where the chief pastor of the Southern Baptist Convention inveighs against the evils of wizardry from the pulpit of Six Flags Over Jesus whenever he can be torn away from pimping the Prayer of Jabez.)

I keep waiting for the day when I get asked to go undercover for the CIA back home...

[laleonaenojada.livejournal.com]

I'm wondering if, were the statute to pass, it could be challenged as unconstitutional under the 14th amendment, in a similar way that Virginia's antimiscegenation law was found unconstitutional in Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967).

Just a thought

~A

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

If you think anyone would be interested: I'm actually in Alabama, and I'm organizing people over on my journal:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/cleolinda/200223.html
http://www.livejournal.com/users/cleolinda/201333.html

Since Neil Gaiman originally posted the link in his journal and that's how someone found it and sent it to me, I emailed him and asked what we should do. He wrote me back (!) and said that the best thing to do would be for people *in* Alabama to write their representatives, and for people outside Alabama to spread the word and make sure the national (and possibly international) media is aware of this. I've emailed a few people (the rep closest to me, the local chapter of the ALA, etc.) to see if I can get additional advice; failing that, we're moving on with a wave of handwritten letters. We're going to stress the censorship angle rather than the GLBT angle, because--let's face it, we're not winning the gay & lesbian rights argument with anyone in AL. I'll be posting specific contact information for various people, and I'm going to a dinner meeting with the local HRC chapter set a couple of weeks from now, after which I'll report back. So, basically: send links and spread the word, particularly to other people in Alabama, if you'd like to help.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

Sorry it took a few extra days to get back to this - I've been having email issues all week, sigh.

But I've added them to the original LJ post now, and hopefully you guys will be able to stop this from being part of your state's laws.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much--I know Alabama's pretty backwards, but my fear is that it starts here and spreads everywhere else. I think it's not coming up for discussion until February 1 at the soonest, so we have a little time to get some letters out there after Christmas.

[blacksquirrel.livejournal.com]

It would ban materials that recognize or promote a lifestyle or actions prohibited by the sodomy and sexual misconduct laws of Alabama

Woah - am I totally off, or didn't the supreme court's decision in last year's (or the year before) sodomy case invalidate *all* of these laws against consensual sodomy and "unnatural" acts?