A public library board in New York has voted “to remove all Pride Displays, in addition to removing all books of the same subject on display, from all Children’s sections.” The president of the board, a member of the LGBTQIA+ community, opposed the action.
Ten years ago this week, Jennifer Gennari published a middle-grade book about a girl with two moms in Vermont during the battle for civil unions there. Gennari guest posted here shortly afterward, explaining how seeing homophobia had motivated her to write the story. Today, as the book is one of many being targeted in a wave of book bans, she has guest posted again to talk about the current climate.
Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell’s award-winning picture book, And Tango Makes Three (Simon & Schuster), based on the true story of two male penguins who hatch an egg together, has been one of the most-challenged books in the country since shortly after it was published in 2005. Yet the current surge of book bans and challenges sweeping through the U.S. is different from anything they’ve seen before, they told me in an interview.
The Alabama legislature passed bills yesterday making it a felony to provide gender-affirming care to trans youth, banning trans children in K-12 schools from using bathrooms aligned with their gender identities, and banning discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in K-12 classrooms.
In a record year for book challenges, a memoir about growing up nonbinary and asexual has topped the American Library Association’s (ALA’s) annual Top 10 Most Challenged Books list, and books with LGBTQIA+ and Black characters remained dominant among all censorship attempts.
Librarians, authors, and others are speaking out against a leading provider of school library software after it announced yesterday that it is considering an optional add-on that would help schools and librarians comply with new and pending legislation that requires parents be allowed to know of and control access to the books their children check out—which could out and endanger LGBTQ students.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) has signed the state’s discriminatory ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill into law, prohibiting discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grades and restricting it to an undefined age-appropriateness in higher grades. The damage the bill could cause goes beyond just that, however.
Hungary’s highest court has ruled that it was illegal for the county of Pest to fine a bookstore chain for selling a queer-inclusive children’s book without a warning label—but that doesn’t mean the country is free of anti-LGBTQ censorship.
A new report has found that more than 80 percent of the young people in the U.S.—59 million of them—live in states that have recently considered bills to censor discussions of race and LGBTQ people in schools or that would otherwise create hostile school climates, especially for LGBTQ youth.
Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill has passed the state Senate and will almost certainly be signed into law. Bills are moving forward in Idaho and Alabama that would make providing gender-affirming care to minors a felony. And these are only three of a growing number of states that have passed or are trying to pass such repressive laws. How can we address this onslaught against LGBTQ children and youth?
