Matthew Shepard's Mother's Memoir Homophobic? 'The Meaning Of Matthew' Rejected From College Reading List

qnotes:

Kathy Staley, an archivist at App State's Belk Library, wrote on her Facebook Monday that the committee had not chosen Shepard's book, "The Meaning of Matthew: My Son's Murder in Laramie, and a World Transformed," because some found it to contain "homophobic" passages.

Read the whole story: qnotes

Comments

[Eleanor I Cook]

01:49 PM on 06/10/2010

This entire story is all wrong. I served on that committee for many years, they are wonderful, open minded people. The original quote was taken off Staley's Facebook WITHOUT PERMISSION and now people are saying terrible, hurtful and unfair things about a group of people they do not know, and are accusing ASU of all kinds of things that are not true. I am embarrassed that these media outlets are not practicing responsible journalism - get the facts right, please! And stop stereotyping mountain culture - that is just as bad as other types of profiling!

[twain307]

03:19 PM on 06/12/2010

I received very pleasant e-mail communications from both John Abbott
Coordinator, Collection Management and Susan L. Jennings, Lead Librarian for Desk Services assuring me that the book in question was indeed on the shelves of the library. Quite honestly, with all of the political shenanigans going on with libraries and institutions of higher education,(eg: the Texas textbook commission) I feel it's a good thing to let folks know that people care and are watching. As to Ms. Staley's face-book page, while I do not participate in that social media, I have heard innumerable words of caution that anything you post on these sites is for public consumption. Assuming that Ms. Staley is an adult, she should have known that, or perhaps did, and didn't care.

[Darcman]

11:28 PM on 06/09/2010

How about a book on James Byrd!

[klbrz]

09:07 PM on 06/09/2010

If this is true, are the ones opposing the book saying that maybe the author didn't love her son enough? A woman whose son suffered and died in such a brutal way; who was forced to deal with that death publicly; who has been working for LGBT rights since; how might she be homophobic?

It is possible that he hadn't come out to his family before his death. Maybe she she had to deal with that at the some time she was planning his funeral. I think that would be a shame, but no cause for judgment. Many young people don't tell the family that they are gay. That isn't necessarily a poor reflection on the parents. Years ago, a friend of mine came out to her parents and it blew the family apart. We were all stunned -- we knew that if any of the parents would be okay with this kind of news, it would be hers -- they were incredibly liberal and just seemed to be the coolest people. But, they didn't care for the idea of one of their kids being gay.

And, really, even if this woman wasn't totally pc in her understanding of homosexuality, she obviously loved her son, and has worked in his memory to make the world a better place for other gays. That seems to me to be a perspective worth knowing.

[patriciacaldwell]

06:17 PM on 06/09/2010

Staley wrote an explanation on Facebook? That's an educator's forum? Appalachian, you embarrass me for so many reasons. The mountains were lovely, but the education not so much.

[Eleanor I Cook]

09:09 PM on 06/10/2010

No - this was a private communication taken out of context. This was not a communication from any institutional source - and YOU should know better too. This is a NON story.

[DSOTM]

04:26 PM on 06/09/2010

No where in the entire article do they even paraphrase what was so homophobic about her writings, thus making me wonder who the real homophobes are.

[am10]

04:18 PM on 06/09/2010

Maybe the book sucks.

[Scott Zwartz]

04:08 PM on 06/09/2010

Hard to judge without reading her book and without reading Mudbound. Mudbound sounds like the bookss we had to read in the 1950's about prairie life (sod busting, locusts, drought) with a little racial stuff added. Is there any subject safer than discussing race and calling yourself progressive?

However, a mother's perspective is not a son's perspective, but what's wrong with a mother's viewpoint?

[mikefina]

02:57 PM on 06/09/2010

If on its merits, the book doesn't belong on a college reading list, fine. But since most reading lists are of such a degraded quality anymore, the bruise sensitivities of two hper-sensitive readers shouldn't matter a whit. Not one whit.

[twain307]

02:19 PM on 06/09/2010

For anyone who reads this,and is angered by both the decision and the amateurish manner that the announcement was made by Ms. Staley, I urge you to contact the Belk library using the following link;
http://www.library.appstate.edu/services/suggest.html
This will take you directly to the library contact page, and allow you to make your feelings known. I hope their inbox is flooded.

[Eleanor I Cook]

09:13 PM on 06/10/2010

What a waste of time. The Committee is not connected to the Library at all so thanks for suggesting some needless harrassment. And Staley's comment was on a private page taken out of context by a reporter looking for a story. Give it a rest.

[wendy82551]

11:53 AM on 06/09/2010

Wow. Just wow. She doesn't understand the issue? Who understands the issue better? Unbelievable.