Library pulls free monthly's erotica issue.(Censorship Watch)(Brief article)

The San Luis Obispo City-County (Calif.) Public Library has removed the July/August 2006 issue of the free bimonthly magazine HopeDance from all its branches. In a July 13 staff memo, Library Director Brian Reynolds recommended recycling the copies, saying, "Take a look at it, as well, and you'll see why I am concerned."

The cover of the sexuality-themed issue is a drawing called Venus and the Burning Temples by Mark Bryan, inspired by the Titian nude Venus of Urbino. The issue includes such features as "Holy Whore," "Pornography: Beyond Right and Wrong," and "Public Masturbators."

Characterizing the content as "fairly sexually explicit," Acting Assistant …