LGBTQIA+ Titles, Drag Queen Story Hours Challenged and Censored in 2019

Eight of the titles in the American Library Association’s (ALA’s) latest annual list of the Top 10 Most Challenged Books were challenged or banned because of their LGBTQIA+ content. That’s unfortunately not surprising—but some other new trends this year add to concerns about censorship.

The Top 10 Most Challenged Books of 2019 list was released yesterday as part of the ALA’s annual State of America’s Libraries Report. “Challenges” are documented requests to remove materials from schools or libraries, calculated from censorship reports submitted through the ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom (OIF) as well as from media mentions. Overall, there were 377 challenges targeting 566 books in 2019, up from 347 challenges to 483 books in 2018. Eight of the top 10 in 2019 were challenged because of LGBTQIA+ content (though one other, The Handmaid’s Tale, also includes a queer character). This is up from 2018, when six of the top 11 titles were banned for LGBTQIA+ content (there were 11 because of a tie), and up from 2017, when five of the top 10 were banned for such content.

Indeed, the ALA paints a grim picture, noting “a rising number of coordinated, organized challenges to books, programs, speakers, and other library resources that address LGBTQIA+ issues and themes.” They add, “A notable feature of these challenges is an effort to frame any material with LGBTQIA+ themes or characters as inherently pornographic or unsuitable for minors, even when the materials are intended for children and families and they are age and developmentally appropriate.”

Additionally, they observe:

Organized groups also continued to protest and disrupt Drag Queen Story Hour events held in libraries, claiming that the events advance political, social, and religious agendas that are inconsistent with the groups’ conservative Christian beliefs about gender and sexual identity. In 2019, OIF tracked more than 30 challenges to Drag Queen Story Hours and other Pride programs, and identified a new and distressing trend of disinviting authors who had been invited to speak or read from their books, solely on the grounds that the authors identify as LGTBQIA+ or because their books include LGBTQIA+ themes. [Here’s my coverage of author Robin Stevenson’s “disinvitation” from a talk last year.]

All of the titles challenged for LGBTQIA+ content have been on the list for multiple years, except for the 2018 title Prince & Knight, which makes its first appearance. And Tango Makes Three, about a real-life same-sex penguin pair, has appeared on the list nine times since publication in 2005, topping it from 2006 to 2008. Three of the books this year—George, Beyond Magenta, and I Am Jazz—include  transgender characters or people (and Sex is a Funny Word is a nonfiction book that takes an all-gender inclusive approach to sex education). Keep in mind, too, that just because a book isn’t on this list doesn’t mean it wasn’t challenged; it just wasn’t challenged enough to make the Top 10—which could either indicate it wasn’t considered “controversial” by as many people or that it simply hasn’t gotten into as many libraries yet.

The good news, as I see it? The increase in challenges to Drag Queen Story Hours and queer-inclusive children’s books is in part an indicator of their success as they spread to more libraries and communities. I have to think, however, that even though queer-inclusive books may continue to be challenged, it will be harder for them all to be as their numbers rise.  In 2019 and 2018, there was a surge in the number of queer-inclusive children’s books, and 2020 is shaping up to have even more. Keep reading and recommending them!

Here’s the ALA’s full list of the Top 10 Most Challenged Books, along with the reasons they were challenged, followed by a short video for those who prefer their lists in animated form.

1. George, by Alex Gino. Reasons: to avoid controversy; for LGBTQIA+ content and a transgender character; because schools and libraries should not “put books in a child’s hand that require discussion”; for sexual references; and for conflicting with a religious viewpoint and “traditional family structure.”

2. Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out, by Susan Kuklin. Reasons: LGBTQIA+ content, for “its effect on any young people who would read it,” and for concerns that it was sexually explicit and biased.

3. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Presents A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo, by Jill Twiss, illustrated by EG Keller. Reasons: LGBTQIA+ content and political viewpoints, for concerns that it is “designed to pollute the morals of its readers,” and for not including a content warning.

4. Sex is a Funny Word, by Cory Silverberg, illustrated by Fiona Smyth. Reasons: LGBTQIA+ content; for discussing gender identity and sex education; and for concerns that the title and illustrations were “inappropriate”

5. Prince & Knight, by Daniel Haack, illustrated by Stevie Lewis Reasons: featuring a gay marriage and LGBTQIA+ content; for being “a deliberate attempt to indoctrinate young children” with the potential to cause confusion, curiosity, and gender dysphoria; and for conflicting with a religious viewpoint.

6. I Am Jazz, by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings, illustrated by Shelagh McNicholas. Reasons: LGBTQIA+ content, for a transgender character, and for confronting a topic that is “sensitive, controversial, and politically charged.”

7. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood. Reasons: profanity and for “vulgarity and sexual overtones.”

8. Drama, written and illustrated by Raina Telgemeier Reasons: LGBTQIA+ content and for concerns that it goes against “family values/morals.”

9. Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling. Reasons: referring to magic and witchcraft, for containing actual curses and spells, and for characters that use “nefarious means” to attain goals.

10. And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson, illustrated by Henry Cole Reason: LGBTQIA+ content.

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