I honestly can not wrap my head about a lawsuit pending in Wisconsin in which four West Bend community members are claiming that just SEEING A COPY of Francesca Lia Block’s young adult book BABY BE-BOP on display in the public library damaged them. (“Oh my virgin eyyyyyyyes!!!!”)
To quote from the ALA story on the matter:
Milwaukee-area citizen Robert C. Braun of the Christian Civil Liberties Union (CCLU) distributed at the meeting copies of a claim for damages he and three other plaintiffs filed April 28 with the city; the complainants seek the right to publicly burn or destroy by another means the library’s copy of Baby Be-Bop. The claim also demands $120,000 in compensatory damages ($30,000 per plaintiff) for being exposed to the book in a library display, and the resignation of West Bend Mayor Kristine Deiss for “allow[ing] this book to be viewed by the public.”
“the plaintiffs, all of whom are elderly, claim their mental and emotional well-being was damaged by this book at the library,” specifically because Baby Be-Bop contains the “n” word and derogatory sexual and political epithets that can incite violence and “put one’s life in possible jeopardy, adults and children alike.”
All I can say is… WTF people. I can’t even muster a coherent argument against this, it’s broken my brain so badly.
If anyone knows of a legal fund we can donate to to help the library fight the case, please let me know?
Meanwhile, you can buy a copy of the much-lauded and award-winning book in question here at Powell’s.
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