Long Beach : Group to Fight Censorship

A group of parents, teachers and local activists has formed an organization to combat what they consider efforts to impose censorship in the Long Beach Unified School District by local Christian fundamentalists.

The group’s 25 members, who call themselves Friends of Public Education, say they plan to attend school board meetings regularly to urge the board to resist attempts to remove materials from school curricula or libraries.

Members cited efforts last year by a group of Christian fundamentalist parents to force the ban of a film titled “The Headless Cupid,” which the Christian parents called objectionable. The film’s use was discontinued for several months but has been recently returned to district libraries by Supt. Tom Giugni, who said there was no legal justification for its permanent removal.