老澳门开奖结果

This week is marks the 30th anniversary of Banned Books Week, an annual event that celebrates the freedom to read and calls attention to the wealth of creative expression that is stifled when books can be barred from library shelves. The 老澳门开奖结果 has always believed that our country functions best when citizens exercise their right to freely explore the world around them, and, we鈥檒l be blogging about banned books and censorship all week. Join the conversation using .

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the rousing celebration of free speech, and its condemnation of government shackling of library bookshelves across the nation. Free speech is a core mission of the 老澳门开奖结果: books are speech. They enrich us; they teach us; they entertain us; they confound us; and they challenge us. And sometimes, they make us uncomfortable. But there is no room on library shelves for censorship.

I鈥檓 a lawyer, not a literary critic. I can鈥檛 predict whether E.L. James鈥� Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy will have a long literary legacy or is just a blip on the radar screen of popular culture鈥攔egardless, it鈥檚 still at the top of the best seller lists.

Have I read the books? Sure. All three of them鈥攖horough research is central to my profession. Do I care who will play Anastasia Steele or Christian Grey in the film version? Nope. [Did I have feminist qualms about a young woman playing a 鈥渟ubmissive鈥�? Sure, but in the end, Anastasia鈥檚 the one who鈥� (no spoilers here).]

But I care about the First Amendment, and I know censorship when I see it. When the in Florida removed 19 copies of Fifty Shades of Grey from circulation based on one person鈥檚 misguided sense of decorum, a resounding chorus of 鈥�Really?鈥� was heard across the country: in 2012, would a public library, an arm of the government, really strip a book from its collection on the ground that it was 鈥渟emi-pornographic鈥�? Mind you, this is a public library that carries the erotic fiction chronicles, including Gettin鈥� Buck Wild: Sex Chronicles II (Zane Does Incredible, Erotic Things). Really.

In Brevard County, 鈥�Really?鈥� became a chorus of 鈥�Hell, no!鈥� as men and women, card-carrying members of the Brevard County Library System demanded that the books be returned to the shelves. On May 24, the 老澳门开奖结果 of Florida and the National Coalition Against Censorship to the Brevard County Commissioners reminding them that the County鈥檚 removal of Fifty Shades of Grey from circulation violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Section 4 of the Florida Constitution, and also exposed the County Commission to potential liability.

Over Memorial Day (what lovely timing) the County鈥檚 Communications Director announced that 鈥淭he Brevard County Library System will return Fifty Shades of Grey to its library shelves.鈥� The Library Services Director, who had made the initial decision to scrap the books, remarked 鈥淲e have always stood against censorship.鈥� Really?

But all鈥檚 well that ends well: score another one for the First Amendment.

鈥�Laters, baby.鈥�

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