Hey, small town Wisconsin’s in the national news again! CNN ran this story last week about the town of West Bend and its battle over library books containing sexual – and homosexual – content. The public argument over what to do with these books has divided the town, cost some people their positions on the local library board, and provoked one group of people to call for a good ol’ fashioned book burning. It all started when a couple of parents asked the library to move some books from the “young adult” section to the “adult” section. From CNN:

• 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.

Well, the library refused (because, mis-shelving books is, you know, censorship). And then people started blogging about both sides of the issue, and we all know what blogging gets you nowadays: a firestorm of small town uppity bickering. The local news picked up the story and pretty soon there was a lovely anti-gay-book-themed float in West Bend’s 4th of July parade. Eventually, four people filed a claim against the library (all of them "elderly," BTW), saying a single book from the library about a homosexual teenager has caused them mental and emotional damage. They also called for the aforementioned book burning. Seriously, check out the whole story, it’s quite the saga.