LGBTQ Kids’ Books Challenged Again

The American Library Association (ALA) has released its annual list of the 10 most frequently challenged books—and once again, ones with LGBTQ content are on it.

The  2014 Top Ten List of Frequently Challenged Books list was released as part of the ALA’s State of America’s Libraries Report. A challenge to a book, as the ALA defines it, is “a formal, written complaint filed with a library or school requesting that a book or other material be restricted or removed because of its content or appropriateness.”

And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, was the number three most-challenged book last year. Based on the true story of two male penguins who raise a chick together, it has long been on the ALA’s list, topping it for several years. The authors told me a few years ago when they came in at number one:

We can think of lists we’d prefer to top.

I will say that, as gay men of a certain age, we are no strangers to fear and anger being directed towards us and families like ours. But unlike in the debate of gays in the military, gays at the altar, gays in the boy scouts, and so on, this time the government is squarely behind us, and that makes all the difference. And not only is the U.S. Constitution indisputably on our side (the U.S. Supreme Court wrote about a similar case of book suppression in 1982 “Our Constitution does not permit the suppression of ideas”), but throughout these years of challenges we have had the great support of the American Library Association, the ACLU, and PEN America as well as countless teachers, librarians, parents, and most meaningful to us, children. When a group of New York City 5th graders get together to give you an award for writing a book that furthers the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr., it becomes much easier to shake the image of the angry mother waving your book around on Fox News.

(Astute readers will note that the version of Tango that I’ve linked to is the upcoming 10th anniversary edition, due out June 2, with “an all-new authors’ note and an exclusive poster.” It’s the second LGBTQ-themed picture book to celebrate a milestone anniversary this year, the first being Lesléa Newman’s classic Heather Has Two Mommies, about which more here.)

Also on the ALA list once again for “homosexual” content was Stephen Chbosky’s young adult coming-of-age novel, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, which was made into a movie in 2012 starring Logan Lerman, Emma Watson and Ezra Miller.

As I said last fall, however, the question isn’t just why books with LGBTQ content are being challenged, but why so many of them aren’t—indicating, perhaps, that they’re not making their way into libraries in the first place.

LGBTQ topics aren’t the only themes that can get a book challenged, as you can see from the full list below. As the ALA said in its press release:

The lack of diverse books for young readers continues to fuel concern. Over the past 12 months the library community has fostered conversations and fueled a groundswell toward activism to address the lack of diversity reflected in children’s literature—both in content and among writers and illustrators.

A current analysis of book challenges recorded by ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) from 2001 — 2013, shows that attempts to remove books by authors of color and books with themes about issues concerning communities of color are disproportionately challenged and banned.

In the report itself, the ALA builds on the work of author Malinda Lo, whose queer-themed young adult novels I highly recommend for both teens and adults. Lo last year analyzed the challenged books lists for the last decade and discovered that 52 percent of the books challenged or banned included “diverse content” (which Lo defines more precisely in her post on the topic). The ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom followed Lo’s lead and found that eight of the 10 titles on the Frequently Challenged Books list fof 2014 included diverse content. Not all of them were challenged because of “diverse” content, but as Lo said, “It’s clear to me that books that fall outside the white, straight, abled mainstream are challenged more often than books that do not destabilize the status quo…. The message this sends is loud and clear: diversity is actually under attack. Minority perspectives are being silenced every year.”

It’s heartening to see grassroots initiatives like We Need Diverse Books attempt to address these issues, and I encourage everyone to support them—but one doesn’t have to be part of any organized effort to have an impact. Buy diverse books that reflect your own family and others. Ask for them in libraries and schools. And speak out locally if any book is challenged in your community.

Here’s the full 2014 Top Ten List of Frequently Challenged Books:

1) “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” by Sherman Alexie
Reasons: anti-family, cultural insensitivity, drugs/alcohol/smoking, gambling, offensive language, sex education, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group, violence. Additional reasons: “depictions of bullying”

2) “Persepolis,” by Marjane Satrapi
Reasons: gambling, offensive language, political viewpoint. Additional reasons: “politically, racially, and socially offensive,” “graphic depictions”

3) “And Tango Makes Three,” Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
Reasons: Anti-family, homosexuality, political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, unsuited for age group. Additional reasons: “promotes the homosexual agenda”

4) “The Bluest Eye,” by Toni Morrison
Reasons: Sexually explicit, unsuited for age group. Additional reasons: “contains controversial issues”

5) “It’s Perfectly Normal,” by Robie Harris
Reasons: Nudity, sex education, sexually explicit, unsuited to age group. Additional reasons: “alleges it child pornography”

6) “Saga,” by Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staples
Reasons: Anti-Family, nudity, offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group. Additional reasons:

7) “The Kite Runner,” by Khaled Hosseini
Reasons: Offensive language, unsuited to age group, violence

8) “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: drugs/alcohol/smoking, homosexuality, offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group. Additional reasons: “date rape and masturbation”

9) “A Stolen Life,” Jaycee Dugard
Reasons: drugs/alcohol/smoking, offensive language, sexually explicit, and unsuited for age group

10) “Drama,” by Raina Telgemeier
Reasons: sexually explicit

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