My favorite comic strip, Unshelved, follows the adventures of librarians in a public library. This week's strips have focused, in a less obvious way, on some of the controversy surrounding the selection of writer Orson Scott Card for YALSA's Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Contribution to Young Adult Literature (for his books, Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow). And, no, Card is never mentioned by name.
The controversy is not that those books are not good for young adults. The controversy is also not that those books do not deserve awards.
Mr. Card has his own take on homosexuality, gay marriage, and such, and he is more than willing to share that take with the world. That is where the controversy lies.
School Library Journal discusses the issue here.
This quote below I offer without comment. Feel free to make your own decision.
“Laws against homosexual behavior should remain on the books, not to be indiscriminately enforced against anyone who happens to be caught violating them, but to be used when necessary to send a clear message that those who flagrantly violate society's regulation of sexual behavior cannot be permitted to remain as acceptable, equal citizens within that society.”
Anybody who thinks that the answer to this is simplistic is absolutely not paying attention.
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