As the nation\u2019s culture wars rage on in classrooms and libraries, attempts to ban books have reached a record high, and titles with LGBTQ themes remain top targets.
In its annual book censorship report, the American Library Association documented 1,269 challenges to more than 2,500 books in 2022, the highest number of attempted book bans since the association began tracking such efforts in 2001. It was a 75% jump from 2021, which held the previous record.
Of the 13 books that made the ALA\u2019s list of \u201cMost Challenged Books\u201d last year, seven titles \u2014 including three of the top four \u2014 were challenged for having LGBTQ content, the association found.
Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association\u2019s Office for Intellectual Freedom, said the LGBTQ-heavy list \u201csends a message of exclusion.\u201d
\u201cIt\u2019s a way of telling young gay and transgender persons that they don\u2019t belong in school, that they don\u2019t belong to the community,\u201d she said. \u201cIt sends a message to the LGBTQ community as a whole that they\u2019re not considered full citizens with full rights to participate in community institutions like the library.\u201d
The ALA reported that, prior to 2020, the \u201cvast majority\u201d of challenges against books were made by individuals who sought to restrict access to a single book their child was reading. But the group found that 90% of last year\u2019s challenges were directed at multiple books and nearly a fifth of them were made by \u201cpolitical\/religious groups.\u201d
The association cited this finding as \u201cevidence of a growing, well-organized, conservative political movement, the goals of which include removing books about race, history, gender identity, sexuality, and reproductive health from America\u2019s public and school libraries that do not meet thIn recent years, conservative lawmakers and activists have rallied around limiting LGBTQ issues being taught in schools, queer symbolism from being displayed in classrooms and transgender athletes from participating in school sports.
Just last week, the Florida Board of Education approved Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 request to expand the state\u2019s so-called Don\u2019t Say Gay law \u2014 which restricts the instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity in the state\u2019s public schools \u2014 to all grades. Previously, the law only explicitly applied to children in kindergarten through third grade.
Last year\u2019s most challenged book was the award-winning memoir \u201cGender Queer,\u201d which also topped the ALA\u2019s 2021 list of most banned books.
eir approval.\u201d
The illustrated memoir \u2014 which chronicles nonbinary author Maia Kobabe\u2019s journey of self-identity \u2014 has faced unparalleled pushback from school boards and conservative activists around the country in recent years.
“When a book is removed from a library, or a library defunded, it impoverishes the whole community. Books can provide us with reflections of ourselves and windows into other’s experiences,” Kobabe said in an email. “I know Gender Queer has been both of these for different readers \u2013 many of whom have reached out to me in hundreds of messages over the years.”
In a previous interview with NBC News, Kobabe acknowledged that parts of their memoir may not be appropriate for elementary school children. However, the author said the book\u2019s straightforward accounts could be used to show readers an experience growing up outside of cisgender and heterosexual norms.
\u201cIt\u2019s very hard to hear people say, \u2018This book is not appropriate to young people,\u2019 when it\u2019s like, I was a young person for whom this book would have been not only appropriate, but so, so necessary,\u201d Kobabe said. \u201cThere are a lot of people who are questioning their gender, questioning their sexuality and having a real hard time finding honest accounts of somebody else on the same journey. There are people for whom this is vital and for whom this could maybe even be lifesaving.\u201d
Other titles at the top of the 2022 list include George M. Johnson\u2019s \u201cAll Boys Aren\u2019t Blue,\u201d Toni Morrison\u2019s \u201cThe Bluest Eye,\u201d Mike Curato\u2019s \u201cFlamer,\u201d John Green\u2019s \u201cLooking for Alaska\u201d and Stephen Chbosky\u2019s \u201cThe Perks of Being a Wallflower.\u201d
Caldwell-Stone said that the group of books \u2014 as with all books \u2014 should remain on shelves without \u201cfear or favor.\u201d
\u201cEveryone is entitled to find books that reflect their interests, their experiences, their backgrounds, their identities on the shelves of a publicly funded library that\u2019s there to serve everyone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n