Melinda Beatty’s delightful new picture book, What Is a Pirate? isn’t even out until next week, but the elementary school she herself attended has already rescinded an invitation for an author visit because of concerns that some people might take offense to the story’s gender-nonconforming protagonist.
Several recent attempts to shame and deny LGBTQ families and young people reveal a web of hypocrisy and long-standing lies. Where can we find hope?
A federal bill that would ban books, activities, and programs that mention transgender people—and potentially all LGBTQ people—from K-12 public schools nationwide has moved ahead in the House and been introduced in the Senate, while two other school censorship bills have also advanced in the House in recent weeks.
Books with LGBTQIA+ and/or BIPOC representation were again among those most targeted for censorship last year, as book challenges stay near record levels, according to the American Library Association’s latest data. And 92% of all titles challenged were targeted by pressure groups and government officials rather than individuals.
As a queer mom who started my family via assisted reproduction in a doctor’s office, I’m tired of my son being exposed at school to stories of heterosexual families, most of whom were created via sexual intercourse.
House Republicans have introduced a bill that would ban books, activities, and programs that mention trans people—and potentially all LGBTQ people—from K-12 public schools nationwide.
Today starts Banned Books Week, and a new report from PEN America is blunt about the current wave of book bans in the United States: “Never before has access to so many stories been stolen from so many children.”
Read OUT Loud, a national day of action in support of queer children’s books and the children who read them, will take place August 2 and 3. Watch part of the 24-hour read aloud on Zoom, sign up to read during the Zoom, or attend in-person events at bookstores and other venues.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision saying that parents have the right to opt out their children before LGBTQ-inclusive books are read in public school classrooms is awful for many reasons. I want to focus here, though, on one that may feel amorphous but that should be at the heart of our response: its attack on queer joy.
Uncle Bobby’s Wedding is among the LGBTQ-inclusive picture books in a case being heard today by the U.S. Supreme Court. I was the first journalist to cover the earliest attempt to censor it, in 2008, so I’m reposting my in-depth piece about that, which includes still-relevant insights from the author, editor, and library director.
