Censorship is when something is banned or edited because of content that someone disapproves of. This ranges from books to television to internet and even people’s rights. In the United States the first amendment guarantees people’s rights to freedom of speech. It states that no laws can be made to prohibit freedom of speech, yet when I researched censorship in the United States I found that many books for young adults are censored if they deal with a character being gay, or contain profanity.
   

  If a person is gay, his rights are censored from not being able to get married to being killed for just simply being gay. Books like Misfits by James Howe have been censored just because a character in the story is gay. This is a serious issue not just concerning gay rights. Chris Crutcher and Sherman Alexie, two authors of books for young adults, seem to agree that young adults should have the freedom to read whatever they choose.
    

Chris Crutcher is an author whose books have been censored many times. His book Whale Talk was censored from schools in Michigan because some parents objected to the use of swear words in the book, but those parents didn't stop to consider what good things the book was doing for kids. It gave the kids from mixed race families, or those who aren't athletic someone to relate to. It also gave the kids who didn't have problems like the main character someone to help them see what it’s like, to be an outsider who really has a rough time. It concerns Crutcher because he thinks that adults are trying to hide the real world from their kids. He understands that the parents are just seeing the profanity and not the book as a whole. He is also concerned because the parents are trying to take away something that some kids might need.
    

Sherman Alexie wrote a book called The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. His book was also censored for the same reasons as Chris Crutcher’s Whale Talk. Alexie visited a alternative high school to be the surprise graduation speaker. He was talking to some of the students that had read his book. They really loved it. They all wanted to take pictures and get autographs. He gets handwritten letters almost everyday from teenagers who loved his book. I think that it was a bad idea to ever censor his book because it helped kids not want to hurt themselves or feel bad about who they are.
    

In conclusion, I feel that its a bad thing to censor books when you only look at them from the outside and only see the bad stuff that is written. You have to experience the books first hand and get past the profanity and the gritty reality to see the beauty in them. The kids don’t like these books for no reason. The stories speak to kids, and teach them about life. I think every book should have a fair chance to make it. No book should be censored or banned unless it’s proved to be a book that does nothing good for anyone. Add a language warning to the cover and let the readers be the judge.