ABSTRACT
The Joy of Gay Sex, a manual of homosexuality, has been removed from the Brooklyn Public Library System because it describes sexual practices, such as anal intercourse, that are considered "high risk" for AIDS transmission. According to Ellen Rudley, spokesperson for the Brooklyn Public Library, the decision revolved around a simple ordering problem. "The library ordered what we assumed to be a revised up-to-date edition of The Joy of Gay Sex," she said. Rudley's statement raises questions about future publications that may describe sexual activities of gay men. According to an article in New York Newsday, a memo was released within the library system on November 25, 1985 ordering branches to "discard and destroy" all recently purchased copies of the book. The book's publisher, Simon and Schuster, was unable to comment. Their publicity director told the Native that they have never before had a book suppressed in this manner and had no mechanism for responding to it publicly.
