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TechnoratiBy a 3-2 vote on Wednesday, a Florida council approved a controversial homosexual library to move into a public space, worrying several people in the area.
Located in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the Stonewall Library and Archives will be able to move its large collection of gay and lesbian materials, some of it containing pornographic images of men having anal sex, from its current home at the Gay and Lesbian Community Center to the county-run ArtSpace library at Holiday Park.
The move comes on the heels of a huge controversy involving the city’s mayor, who also disapproves of the council’s decision, in which he made negative remarks about homosexuals having sexual intercourse in public locations.
"I'm shocked that a commission majority has approved it and I'm hoping that they'll reconsider,” explained Mayor Jim Naugle to Life Site News, “but we'll have to see."
The Stonewall Library has been around for about 35 years and has more than 20,000 volumes in its collection. Library workers have explained that it is the largest homosexual library in circulation in the country.
Some titles within the collection include 100 Percent Beef, Arab Slave Boys, and Lesbian Bedtime Stories.
The library has a policy to only allow people over the age of 18, because it includes adult material. Adults can also browse its large historical archive by appointment as well because of the mature content.
"Reach into your hearts tonight and make this gay man a happy gay man," said former commissioner Dean Trantalis, who is openly gay, during the Wednesday hearing.
For those that are against the move, especially the mayor, the vote came at an inopportune time. In a July 4 article by Naugle in The South Sun-Sentinel about a proposed self-cleaning toilet at the beach, the mayor made blunt comments about how the new commodes would reduce the number of people having sex in public restrooms.
''Sometimes they are used for sexual activity – most of it is men meeting men because it's same-sex people in the bathrooms,'' Naugle told The Miami Herald.
He then added that a single-occupancy toilet would eliminate the problem.
Pro-gay groups responded by stuffing the mayor’s mailbox with toilet paper. The incident also probably led to commissioners being more sympathetic to the gay and lesbian library and a favorable vote.
“I had no idea this was what the homosexual book collection was all about,” added the mayor at the vote. "It's a shame it had to come out during this whole toilet controversy."
The city head objects to the collection for two reasons: the city needs the space and he disagrees with some of the archive’s content, which includes “hard-core pornography.”
The library is not set to move immediately, but will do so by the end of the year.
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