ooks by and about the LGBTQ+ community are the most frequent targets of bans at public schools and libraries across the country. (Right up there with books about race, racism, or have characters of color.)[1] And these challenges explicitly state that young people shouldn’t be exposed to LGBTQ+ material.[2]

An extension of this thinking is evident in attempts by policymakers nationwide to prohibit drag shows and banning gender-affirming care. They’re also pushing to allow the deadnaming of transgender students or adults in the workplace, as well as other measures that target LGBTQ+ people.[3]

Books have the ability to give us a glimpse into lives and experiences other than our own, and Maia Kobabe’s graphic memoir Gender Queer is a perfect example. Unfortunately, according to the American Library Association (ALA) Gender Queer has been at the top of the banned book list for two years running (2021 and 2022).[4]

Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns, started writing this memoir as a way to explain to eir family what it means to be nonbinary and asexual. But Gender Queer turned out to be more than a personal story. It’s a touching, insightful and useful guide on gender identity for friends, advocates, and humans everywhere.[5]

Many other books are facing similar trials, including George M. Johnson’s All Boys Aren’t Blue, Mike Curato’s Flamer, Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower, John Green’s Looking for Alaska, Jonathan Evison’s Lawn Boy and Juno Dawson’s This Book Is Gay.[6]

So, read a book from the ALA’s rainbow list in support of Pride Month. Or choose from books, like Gender Queer, that have received the Stonewall Book Award for exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience. But don’t limit choices from these lists to the month of June, show support for Pride year round.

Stonewall Honor Books in Literature

• “Light From Uncommon Stars” by Ryka Aoki (Tor Books)
• “Black Girl, Call Home” by Jasmine Mans (Berkley)
• “Stone Fruit” by Lee Lai (Fantagraphic Books)
• “A Psalm for the Wild-Built” by Becky Chambers (Tor Books)

Stonewall Honor Books in Non-Fiction

• “Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes: And the Unwritten History of the Trans Experience” by Zoë Playdon (Scribner)
• “A History of Scars” by Laura Lee (Atria Paperback)
• “Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993” by Sarah Schulman (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux)
• “Punch Me Up to the Gods: A Memoir by Brian Broome (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Stonewall Honor Books in Children’s and Young Adult Literature

• “Almost Flying,” written by Jake Maia Arlow (Dial Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC)
• The Darkness Outside Us,” written by Eliot Schrefer (Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers) [7]

Endnotes:

[1] Kasey Meehan, Jonathan Friedman. “Banned in the USA: State Laws Supercharge Book Suppression in Schools.” April 20, 2023. PEN America.https://pen.org/report/banned-in-the-usa-state-laws-supercharge-book-suppression-in-schools/

[2] Hillel Italie. “’Gender Queer’ tops library group’s list of challenged books.” AP News. https://apnews.com/article/most-challenged-books-2022-list-c39af4320afb16525cb0fd911c9ffed4

[3] Scott McFetridge, Anthony Izagirre and Sara Cline. “School library book bans are seen as targeting LGBTQ content.” March 20, 2023.  AP News. https://apnews.com/article/lgbtq-book-bans-91b2d4c086eb082cbecfdda2800ef29a

[4] Hillel Italie. “’Gender Queer’ tops library group’s list of challenged books.” AP News. https://apnews.com/article/most-challenged-books-2022-list-c39af4320afb16525cb0fd911c9ffed4

[5] Simon and Schuster.com  https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Gender-Queer-A-Memoir/Maia-Kobabe/9781549304002

[6] Hillel Italie. “’Gender Queer’ tops library group’s list of challenged books.” AP News. https://apnews.com/article/most-challenged-books-2022-list-c39af4320afb16525cb0fd911c9ffed4

[7] American Library Association. Stonewall Book Awards List. https://www.ala.org/rt/rrt/award/stonewall/honored

Images:

[1] Pride Flag. Image by rawpixel.com on Freepik.

[2] Gender Queer Cover. Kobabe, Maia. Gender Queer. Portland, Oregon: Oni Press, Deluxe edition (July 5, 2022).