Judge Rules Against Former Librarian in Case Involving Anti-Gay Book

A federal judge has ruled against a former librarian at Ohio State University at Mansfield who claimed he had been forced out of his job after formally recommending that the institution require freshmen to read a book alleging a gay conspiracy to damage society. Rejecting the arguments of the former librarian, Scott A. Savage, and the Alliance Defense Fund, which backed him, Judge William O. Bertelsman of U.S. District Court found no evidence that the university had violated the free-speech rights of Mr. Savage after he recommended freshmen read David Kupelian’s The Marketing of Evil: How Radicals, Elitists, and Pseudo-Experts Sell Us Corruption Disguised as Freedom (WND Books, 2005). Although Mr. Savage became the target of animosity and complaints from professors over his recommendation, which the university did not follow, he could not claim to have been severely harmed because he did not suffer any employment-related injury such as a disciplinary sanction, his supervisor had supported his right to make the recommendation, and he had chosen to resign on his own, the judge held.