Digital Media Center
Bryant-Denny Stadium, Gate 61
920 Paul Bryant Drive
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0370
(800) 654-4262

© 2025 Alabama Public Radio
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
StoryCorps is in Selma through Feb. 7. Help preserve your stories and community history. Learn more here: StoryCorps Selma. Enter to win Montgomery Symphony Tickets Here.

Rep. Allen Receives Muzzle

By Alabama Public Radio

Tuscaloosa, AL – State Representative Gerald Allen has received a muzzle award from the Thomas Jefferson Center for Protection of Free Expression. The Tuscaloosa Republican earned the award for his bill to prohibit use of public funds for purchase of books or materials that recognize or promote homosexuality as an acceptable lifestyle. The center celebrates Jefferson's birth date every year by handing out the dubious muzzle awards. Those awards are presented to individuals or organizations that center officials believe have tried to suppress free expression. The center's director says Allen's bill represents the clearest and most obvious form of censorship. The bill would prohibit public and school libraries from displaying books with gay characters. It would also stop university theatre groups from staging certain plays. Allen says he wasn't trying to censor books or movies that include a homosexual viewpoint. But he says he doesn't believe that public dollars should be spent to buy or showcase the materials.

News from Alabama Public Radio is a public service in association with the University of Alabama. We depend on your help to keep our programming on the air and online. Please consider supporting the news you rely on with a donation today. Every contribution, no matter the size, propels our vital coverage. Thank you.