Durham Morning Herald Editorial Titled "Library Fulfilled Duty In Permitting Display"

NO. 258 E. T. Rollins Jr. Publisher Robert C. Route Managing Editor John H. Adams Editorial Page Editor Editorials Library Fulfilled Duty In Permitting Display Public displays at the main Durham County Library to coincide with Lesbian and Gay Pride Week have raised a furor and a tough question. Should the displays have been prohibited? Most people would probably say yes, perhaps forgetting that constitutional government clearly opposes the majority’s restricting the free thoughts and speech of the minority, no mat¬ ter how objectionable. The lesbians and homosexuals in Durham who are sponsoring the exhibit would disagree. They would say that they have their rights to use the display space, which the library makes avail¬ able to other groups upon re¬ quest. The only stipulations the library board places on an ex¬ hibit is that it cannot be illegal or likely to result in a public dis¬ turbance. (An example of the latter occurred some time ago in Winston-Salem when the library permitted an exhibit on the his¬ tory of the Ku Klux Klan and near violence resulted.) Those two stipulations seem reasonable. Nevertheless, the library is in a quandary. In permitting the free expression of lesbians and homosexuals, the library is of¬ fending people who strongly dis¬ agree with those life styles. Many have called the library to express their objections, some out of deep religious conviction. Therefore, the library, in up¬ holding its policy to permit free expression, has offended out of fairness. But a library by design should be offensive as well as educational. It is the one public institution where intellectual atrophy cannot be permitted by censorship. If anyone searches the stacks of the library, he would probably find numerous books and resources that are alien to his religious, political and social beliefs. A library is not intended to be all things to all people — but to provide some resources for each person. Insti¬ tutionally and constitutionally, the library is symbolic of what free choice and free thought are all about. It should be noted, too, that this particular display — while perhaps offensive to many be¬ cause it is about homosexuals and lesbians — is not a recruiting exhibit. It is straightforward and informational. The third- floor part of the exhibit deals with AIDS, a subject of great public interest. In sum, it is the duty of the li¬ brary not to present consensus but to make certain that on its shelves and in its display areas it provides ideas — strange or ob¬ jectionable as they might seem’ — that have not been diluted by the heavy hand of censorship. The library board’s commit¬ ment to do this — even, perhaps, when its members might disa¬ gree with the contents of a book or display — should be encour¬ aged and not condemned. ш «