“Christian Civil Liberties Union” Calls For Book Burning

Robert Braun, who says he’s president of a Milwaukee group called the “Christian Civil Liberties Union,” and three other men, are calling for a book called Baby Be-bop to be burned.  The book, housed in the West Bend, WI public library, is a fictional work about a homosexual teenager that Braun is calling “explicitly vulgar, racial and anti-Christian.”

Braun and three other plaintiffs are injecting themselves into a dispute between a West Bend couple, Jim and Ginny Maziarka, who want certain books moved from the teen to the adult section of the library, and other local parents and the library.

Ginny Maziarka, 49, said the books in the section of the library aimed at children aged 12 to 18 included homosexual and heterosexual content she thought was inappropriate for youths.

She and her husband also asked the library to obtain books about homosexuality that affirmed heterosexuality, such as titles written by “ex-gays,” Maziarka said.

“All the books in the young-adult zone that deal with homosexuality are gay-affirming. That’s not balance,” she said.

The library did not agree with the Maziarkas’ suggestions, and the couple appealed to the library board. Ginny Maziarka, a mother of four, began blogging about the issue and the local newspaper picked up the dispute, sparking the opposition.

Maria Hanrahan, also a West Bend mom, set up a rival blog to argue the other side.

The American Library Association will fight any suit brought in this case, claiming moving a young adult book to the adult section amounts to censorship. Deborah Caldwell-Stone of the ALA says, “”The whole intent was shelving books not on the basis of age or reading ability, but because they disapprove of the content with the intent of restricting access. That’s a burden on First Amendment rights.”

Braun and his group say their claim is not connected to the Maziarkas, but the want the book burned because the book, they claim, “goes way over the line.”

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.