Banned "Gay" Books

[LeCharivari]

While doing a little light reading for a thread in the World News Forum I learnt that Green Eggs and Ham (Dr Seuss), Winnie the Pooh, and Anne Frank: the Diary of a Young Girl had been banned in 1991, 2006 and 2010 respectively in some schools and libraries for "having a homosexual content".

Hard to believe in the 21st century, but there it is.

Anyone know of any other "gay" books that have actually been banned anywhere in other countries recently (not just complained about)?

http://www.buzzfeed.com/spenceralthouse/classic-childrens-books-that-have-been-banned-in-america

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/controversial-book-removed-from-texas-middle-school-after-one-parent-complains

http://wqad.com/2012/06/05/controversial-decision-in-erie-gathering-national-attention/

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/26/eveningnews/main691106.shtml

[Scott]

There was a move to get the Teletubbies taken off the air because of gay content as well.

[LeCharivari]

As I recall it was the purple one - rather inappropriately named "Tinky Winky", so I gather from checking it (honestly!).

I also recall something on the news about someone sabotaging a talking Teletubby doll to say "faggot, faggot, faggot, bite my butt".

[JemJem]

I haven't googled it, but, sadly, it is not difficult to guess that a lot of gay-themed books are still banned in many parts of the Middle East and Africa, as well as in conservative countries of Asia and also in Russia, which has become more and more anti-gay in recent years.

Sad.

[sustento]

As I recall it was the purple one - rather inappropriately named "Tinky Winky", so I gather from checking it (honestly!).

I also recall something on the news about someone sabotaging a talking Teletubby doll to say "faggot, faggot, faggot, bite my butt".

[ToddWeston]

I recall there was a ban in Canada back in the 80's - it was mostly gay book shoppes that were not allowed to import what they classified as gay material, but mainstream book stores could import such books - The Supreme Court finally weighed in and the matter was taken care of.

I'm almost tempted to buy Winnie the Pooh and see what these nut cases are talking about. BTW Winnie was named after Winnipeg Canada

[Scott]

I recall there was a ban in Canada back in the 80's - it was mostly gay book shoppes that were not allowed to import what they classified as gay material, but mainstream book stores could import such books - The Supreme Court finally weighed in and the matter was taken care of.

I'm almost tempted to buy Winnie the Pooh and see what these nut cases are talking about. BTW Winnie was named after Winnipeg Canada

I grew up not far from Winnipeg and used to go there quite occasionally. Great city.

I'll now have to give Winnie the Pooh another read as well.

[LeCharivari]

I haven't googled it, but, sadly, it is not difficult to guess that a lot of gay-themed books are still banned in many parts of the Middle East and Africa, as well as in conservative countries of Asia and also in Russia, which has become more and more anti-gay in recent years.

Sad.

I strongly suggest that you DO google it, as you may be surprised to find that your guess is incorrect.

Russia, despite being openly homophobic, has NOT banned any"gay-themed books" recently, despite various allegations that it has - there have been some demands from INDIVIDUALS that some books not be displayed in childrens' sections or removed from bookshops, but so far there has been NO banning of books.

The Middle East, Africa and conservative (Islamic) Asian countries could be expected to have banned "gay-themed books" but very few have unless they have an identifiable pornographic content - just as straight pornography is often banned.

The worst country by far for actually banning books, as far as I am aware, is the USA where bans range from schools to libraries to Bills in the State legislature and the range of books banned range from the Merriam-Webster dictionary for defining oral sex as oral stimulation of the genitals to Anne Frank: the Diary of a Young Girl for being sexually explicit and having homosexual themes.

Unbelievable to most of us in the 21st century, but there it is.

.

[Jingthing]

Agreed. Unbelievable.

[LeCharivari]

I recall there was a ban in Canada back in the 80's - it was mostly gay book shoppes that were not allowed to import what they classified as gay material, but mainstream book stores could import such books - The Supreme Court finally weighed in and the matter was taken care of.

I'm almost tempted to buy Winnie the Pooh and see what these nut cases are talking about. BTW Winnie was named after Winnipeg Canada

BTW Winnie was named after Winnipeg Canada

Yes and no .... he was named after Winnipeg, but it was after Winnipeg a Canadian black bear at the London Zoo which Christopher Robin (AA Milne's son) re-named his bear after.

http://www.just-pooh.com/history.html

[sustento]

A little aside from when I spent my time sailing round the world. There was a company called Walport who used to supply ships with cases of movies and videos so we could have something to occupy our time when we weren't either on watch or shagging the galleyboy. There's not a lot to do when you're actually at sea.

The restrictions on the films they could supply were sometimes a little bizarre. Bear in mind that these films could end up anywhere in the world.

They wouldn't supply 'Funny Girl' because it would have been confiscated if it ever hit the Middle East (Omar Sharif and Barbara Streisand).

'In the Heat of the Night' was no good either as it showed a black man and a white man as equals. This was at the time when Suez was closed and all crude oil for Europe came via the Cape of Good Hope so the movie would never survive transiting South Africa.

We used to fly out to Sharjah in the UAE to join ships and usually had to spend a night or two in the Sharjah Hilton. You could buy UK newspapers in the lobby. Some guy at Dubai airport had the job of using a black felt tip pen to obscure all the tits on page 3 of 'The Sun'

Edited August 25, 2013 by sustento

[Jingthing]

While it might be amusing to make fun of some of the silly provincial book bannings in the USA, overall the USA is a VERY FREE country as far as freedom of speech and freedom of reading (and writing and publishing) of gay themed books of ALL kinds. Those book bannings don't actually reflect the ACTUAL situation in the USA any more than saying there are no gay book bannings in Iran, Russia, Saudi tells the REAL story there either. For example the religious police in Saudi. Back when independent bookstores were economically viable, there were gay bookstores (literary not porn based) in a number of the U.S. cities. I see many or all have closed because of the economics of books selling, not banning of gay themed books. Imagine IF it was economically viable someone trying to open a bookstore like the the now defunct Lambda Rising in Moscow, in Tehran, in Riyahd. It wouldn't be possible. That's the point.

Of course all the books AND MANY MORE that were sold at places like Lambda Rising are now sold at amazon.com, etc. and can be legally shipped anywhere in the USA for anyone who wishes to read them.

Cheers.

Edited August 26, 2013 by Jingthing

[LeCharivari]

No, "the point" of this thread is book banning - if you want to talk about freedom of speech, religious police in Saudi, etc, those are very different topics and ones which I am quite happy to discuss in OTHER THREADS, but not this one.

This thread is about "Anyone know of any other "gay" books that have actually been banned anywhere in other countries recently (not just complained about)?"

Let's keep it on topic, please.

[Jingthing]

No, "the point" of this thread is book banning - if you want to talk about freedom of speech, religious police in Saudi, etc, those are very different topics and ones which I am quite happy to discuss in OTHER THREADS, but not this one.

This thread is about "Anyone know of any other "gay" books that have actually been banned anywhere in other countries recently (not just complained about)?"

Let's keep it on topic, please.

I'll post my opinions and will accept moderation from moderators only.

I related my comments to the book banning topic quite clearly. If you didn't like the point, perhaps respond to the point or just don't respond.

Edited August 27, 2013 by Jingthing

[Scott]

It is quite obvious that some posters use the threads as a way of simply getting in their digs in on other posters.

The OP starts out with 4 links, all to the US including a link to the "First Amendment Center".

You are free to comment or not comment on the topic.

Continued bullying of members and unsolicited comments will result in suspension.

[Scott]

Troll thread.

//Closed//