A man in Idaho seeks to get the book TJOGS banned from the public library. I'm a total civil libertarian but you know in this case I think I have to agree with him. That book is not like the kama sutra of gay life. There is a chapter promoting gays having sex with dogs and other animals. I think some sick minds wrote that book. Animals and kids are to be protected not abused.

Agreed, the book - in both editions - IS stupid and advocates dangerous and irresponsible attitudes and behaviors, but I don't think it should be banned. Let it continue to be printed and sold so it can be used as evidence of the permissive practices that helped spread AIDS - and of the failure/refusal of too many leaders in our own "community" to speak out against it, which only increased its deleterious effects.

Bad books should be answered, not banned. Because then who decides what is too bad to be allowed?

I now agree with both of you. My thought of the book promoting bestiality made me not think hard enough about the issue. Trying to ban the damned book will just make more read it. You are right that the book is dangerous. The religous far right has always accused gays of engaging in everthing from child sex, bestiality and even necrophilia. This behavior is repudiated by all gay people who have any morals. I hope more people post on this topic as well. Thanks for the posts so far.

I once lived with a little dachsund. He was so sweet and kind. He was part of my life from my age of 10 to 24. He died when I was 24. You know if someone had tried to harm him I would have reacted like a parent and kicked their f**kin asses. These little dogs and cats are like babies and we should protect them. TJOGS authors must be sick bastards.

Patrick Califia as Pat Califia once wrote a book for alyson press that condoned everything from eating feces to bestiality. What in the hell is wrong with people? Don't they have any sense of decency. Her book was as bad as TJOGS. Patrick is clearly an intelligent man so I can't understand why he would write such twisted stuff.

Living right next door to Idaho, why I am not surprised. My question is why did it take him this long though??

Years ago I found a book my mother had by, I believe, Nancy Friday, which was a compilation of sex stories women had sent to her over the years. She collected them into an anthology that was supposed to show how non-stereotypical most women were with the sex lives and sexual fantasies. She had an entire section devoted to women who had at least one beastiality encounter - and remember, when Texas was outlawing sodomy, they explicity refused to ban beasiality, because, IIRC, they didn't want to stigmatize those poor farm boys who try animals because there ain't no womenfolk around.

Interestingly, I saw on another blog that this same library carries "the Turner Diaries," which were believed to be part of the motivation behind the Oklahoma City terrorism; the book contains very violent imagery and anti-government sentiment, from what I understand.

Whether you agree with the contents of this book or not, the librarians of the US are hard-core 1st Amendment people, and tend to believe that information should be available, so pretty much anything that is printed is in our libraries. In general, I agree with the librarians - better to have information out in the open than circulated in secret (as something like "Peyton Place" was in the 50s - EVERYONE read that book after it was attacked in some states, and potentially even banned).

I just wish these "values voters" (see other thread) would be equal opportunity with their outrage - I don't see these particular wingnuts attacking any books without gay themes. And I love that the way these "pro-family" people are ensuring no one is "harmed" by this horrible book that they have refused to return it to the library, which makes them thieves. So much for "Thou Shalt Not Steal."

Wow, we need a book to tell us about the joys of gay sex?

Okay, I just checked the newest edition of the The Joy of Gay Sex, Third Edition Revised and Expanded on both Amazon and B&N, and NOWHERE does it list "bestiality." Or "pedophilia." I'm not sure where Elemental got his information, but the new and updated edition is not promoting either of these behaviors/acts. Instead, it appears to have been updated by Charles Silverstein and Felice Picano (a noted gay writer) to include a wide array of topics that would be of interest to and helpful to gays of all ages, from "Bears" to "Webcams" to "Tenderness" to "Wills" to "Transgender" to "Safe Sex" to "Out on the Job" to "Frottage" to "Fidelity and Monogamy" to "Friendship" and on and on. These are all topics that have come up ON OUTSPORTS!

The main reason that someone wants to ban this book is because it provides information on a gay topic. The "bestiality" issue is a red herring, and really perhaps before any of us go along with attempts to ban or quash the free access of information for any reason (and I'm personally against any attempts, by the right-wing or the left, to ban information), we should probably check out what it is that's under attack. We're human beings, people, not lemmings.

[ May 19, 2006, 09:31 AM: Message edited by: fantomas ]

Banning books is not the answer. Education and discussion is the answer. Everyone has their own squeamish line and most of us don't like to be squeamish. Who's to decide?

I personally get squeamish at straight guys in movies having sex with a pie. But I don't advocate boycotting it.

(Besides, I have a thing for flutes. )

The original edition did promote bestiality. So glad to read that the new version has deleted that topic. Thanks to fantomas for the new info.

Couldn't agree with you more, maddog! Being something of a history buff, wasn't there a party who rose to power in Germany, based partly on banning books it found to be inappropriate? I think it is entirely the individual's choice to ban a book from his or her reading list, not the state's. I object to a lot of literature and art out there, but that's my choice. And my choice shouldn't impact the viewing or reading habits of anyone else, EVER. Neither should anyone else's preferences impact mine.

Why me of course! I could think of plenty of books that have bored the living hell out of me.