A New Era of Book Banning
"Don't Say Gay" has become a major trend in book banning across the United States.
In 2024, "Gender Queer,” a coming-of-age graphic memoir exploring gender identity and sexuality, topped the American Library Association’s “most challenged books” list for the third year in a row.
The book follows the author, Maia Kobabe, through childhood to adulthood, touching on what some consider taboo topics such as menstruation, self-pleasure, and sexual fantasies. The reader follows along as Maia explores gender and sexual orientation and tries to find where they feel most comfortable.
“Gender Queer” has won several awards for its writing and storytelling. However, in 2023 it also won the Guinness World Record for the Most Banned Book of the Year with the ALA recording 106 attempts to have “Gender Queer” removed from US public library collections in 2023.
In the past decade the United States has seen a substantial rise in the censorship of books. There has been a growing desire to remove books that discuss complex issues like race, gender, sexuality, or violence. The second Trump Administration has fueled censorship and erasure in libraries, museums, government websites and news outlets. As the country continues to see a shift in conservatism and right-wing politics, attempts to ban books are becoming more frequent.
In 2022, the ALA documented 1,269 demands to censor library books and resources. This was the highest recorded number of attempted book bans since the association began tracking data over 20 years ago. The vast majority of the books being challenged were written by or about members of the LGBTQ+ community and people of color.
Book banning has been used throughout history to mark books as offensive on moral, political, or religious grounds. Today, book banning primarily takes place in schools and libraries instead of on a national scale. To “ban” a book typically means to simply remove it from a public library or school’s collection or from a school curriculum.
According to the ALA, most book challenges come from organized censorship organizations such as Moms for Liberty and No Left Turn in Education. The stated purpose of groups like these is to protect children from lewd or manipulative content. When LGBTQ+ books are targeted, they are often on charges of obscenity or inappropriate sexual content. “Gender Queer” has been challenged multiple times for explicit imagery and sexual content. In one complaint against “Gender Queer,” the ALA cited phrases like “brain-washing,” “anti-biological” and “anti-parent.”
The complete list of terms featured in the article "These Words Are Disappearing in the New Trump Administration" from the New York Times.
This recent attack on LGBTQ+ books has been exacerbated and legitimatized by the actions of the second Trump Administration. The administration has been working to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The New York Times viewed and reported on government memos ordering the removal of certain words from public-facing websites or ordering the elimination of other materials, such as school curricula, in which they might be included. Words on the list included “diversity,” “feminism,” “gender,” “LGBTQ,” “sex,” “sexuality,” “transgender,” and “women.”
This form of book banning continues to grow familiar across the country, but people are fighting back. Authors continue to share their stories, regardless of the backlash they will face. Librarians continue to house contested books. Activists continue the fight to uphold the First Amendment right to distribute and receive information.
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