Proposition 1: What Would It Do? Librarians Fear The Worst

Second of a series.

Sometimes the line to use the InfoTrac database at the Hayden library is several teenagers deep.

InfoTrac and the Social Issues Resources Series database are popular resources for students working on research papers for school, said library directors John Hartung and Lee Starr.

“It’s just a godsend,” Starr said of InfoTrac, which provides the titles and text of magazine articles on all topics.

But some articles could be construed by some as godless promotions of homosexuality.

If Proposition 1 passes and becomes law, Hartung and Starr fear they might have to keep students away from the computer stations.

“It flies in the face of what libraries are all about,” Hartung said. “Libraries are traditionally meant to provide information to anybody, that applies to children, too.”

Proposition 1, the Idaho Citizens Alliance’s initiative to limit homosexual rights, would restrict access to library materials that portray homosexuality as acceptable.

Just how far-reaching the measure would be is a matter of interpretation and speculation. But some librarians assume the worst-case scenario.

Hartung and Starr, for instance, imagine they’ll have to cull all items that mention homosexual relationships from the children’s stacks, and make the adult stacks physically off-limits to youth and children. They figure they’ll have to purchase another $109,000 bookmobile for children, and spend $50,000 on barriers for the five county libraries.

Either that, or go through each and every book, magazine and newspaper article to find references to homosexuality.

If they can’t find a way to eliminate controversial articles from the databases, the computers will be offlimits, too. Hiring additional staff to screen materials and monitor libraries could cost as much as $80,000, Hartung and Starr estimate.

The library district would have to raise taxes as much as 12 percent to pay for it all, they said.

Statewide, the Idaho Library Association predicts it could cost as much as $15 million in labor, technology and construction to abide by the proposed law.

This estimate makes Bill Proctor, ICA spokesman, laugh. The figure is ludicrously inflated, he said when contacted at his Boise office.

“I don’t think it’s going to affect them that much,” he said. “I could literally take myself and eliminate the books that are easily accessible to children and put them in an appropriate place, or eliminate them altogether if they’re just trash.”

The cost would be no more than it costs to wash and wax the floors, vacuum and dust the library, he said.

Philosophically speaking, Hartung and Starr argue that it’s the parents’ job, not theirs, to sort through what a child should and should not read.

“Children have a right to read anything, and the right of every parent is to say `yes’ to a book or `no’ to a book,” Starr said. “Parents are expected to be here when their children are young.”

Even the CD-ROM New Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia on the children’s computer could pose a problem.

A search for the key word “homosexuality” brought up 28 entries containing a total of 55 occurrences of the word.

The entry on homosexuality contained the ambiguous statement that “the potential for homosexual behavior appears to be a basic part of human sexuality.”

On InfoTrac and other databases, students could venture into more controversial areas. And, contents of the library’s general stacks aside, even the young adult section of the library contains numerous references to homosexuality.

Here’s a sampling of what a short browse through two local libraries unearthed:

On InfoTrac, a review of a book called “Coming Out Conservative; an autobiography: a founder of the modern conservative movement speaks out on personal freedom, homophobia and hate politics.”

On the young adult magazine rack, Sassy magazine, featuring a “Help” column with a letter from a lesbian teenager who fell in love with a female friend.

“Remind her that because we live in such a homophobic society, it’s really important that she not tell anyone else,” the columnist writes back. She also provides a national hotline for gay and lesbian teenagers.

On the young adult bookshelves, “Ruby” by Rosa Guy, a book about two teenaged lesbian lovers, and “The Man Without a Face” by Isabelle Holland, which also has a homosexual theme.

On the Social Issues Resources database, a newspaper article about school support groups for gay and lesbian teenagers that quotes a therapist saying, “With few exceptions, people are gay because of biological factors.”

Would these materials be censored under Proposition 1?

Perhaps, Proctor said.

“I’d have to see the content of the book, chapter by chapter,” he said. “When I’m talking about promotion, what we’re talking about, is a book that would openly promote homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle.”

But in trying to decide what “promotes” homosexuality, librarians might err on the side of caution, causing a “chilling effect on access to all materials in all libraries,” predicted the state attorney general in a lengthy opinion that declared the initiative unconstitutional.

Minors can be denied access to obscene materials, but not to ideas that the state disagrees with, argued the attorney general.

ICA supporters, however, argue that free speech is not without limits.

Speech that causes “discernible harm” to the audience has always been restricted, wrote The Initiative Review Committee, a group of eight pro-initiative lawyers who wrote a critique of the attorney general’s opinion.