A committee of teachers, parents and educators reviewed it, and determined that it was not inappropriate and should be returned. This spring, after a member of Moms For Liberty submitted a complaint about “Gender Queer” to the Wappingers Central School District in upstate New York, the book was removed from a high school library. In some communities, divisions over “Gender Queer” have been deep and painful. “This could do damage to children if they don’t know what’s in it.” “Any 10- or 17-year-old could just check out that book,” Pippin said.
She searched for it in her school library system and found there were copies in multiple middle schools and high schools, including the schools that her 13- and 17-year-old children attend, she said. Pippin first heard of “Gender Queer” when she saw it listed on the group’s Facebook page in October. It appeared on a list of books deemed sexually explicit that was circulated among members of Moms for Liberty, a nonprofit formed in 2021 to push for “parental rights in schools” that has been helping to drive book banning efforts. Henry McMaster of South Carolina, who called it “obscene and pornographic” and “likely illegal.” It became a talking point for prominent Republican officials, among them Glenn Youngkin, now governor of Virginia Gov. In some schools, it was pulled preemptively, without a formal complaint. The book was banned in dozens of school districts and removed from libraries across the country, including in Alaska, Iowa, Texas and Pennsylvania. Many of the book’s critics seized on a handful of explicit images that illustrate Kobabe’s evolving understanding of gender and sexuality as a teenager and young adult, including a drawing of Kobabe and a girlfriend experimenting with a strap-on sex toy, and another of Kobabe fantasizing about two men having sex. “I was like, ‘Well, this is disappointing and a bummer, but I don’t need to give this my attention,’ ” Kobabe said. One night in September, Kobabe was tagged in an Instagram post linking to a viral video of an irate mother denouncing the book as pornography at a school board meeting in Fairfax County, Virginia. On Amazon, it’s listed as appropriate for ages 18 and up on Barnes & Noble’s website, it’s recommended for readers 15 and older. High schools and some middle school libraries around the country began stocking it. The award brought “Gender Queer” to the attention of librarians across the country, who often look to such prizes when deciding what books to order. In 2020, it won an Alex Award, a prize given by the American Library Association to books written for adults that hold “special appeal to young adults, ages 12 through 18.” The book’s publisher, Lion Forge, marketed it toward older teens and adults. Kobabe imagined the memoir would appeal mainly to young adults who had also wrestled with gender identity, and to friends and family of nonbinary people. To explain what it felt like to be nonbinary, Kobabe started drawing the images that eventually became the basis for “Gender Queer.” Kobabe’s parents, both teachers, were supportive but also confused at times. In 2016, Kobabe began coming out to friends and family as nonbinary and using the gender neutral pronouns e, eir and em. The book explores the author’s discomfort with traditional gender roles and features depictions of masturbation, period blood and confusing sexual experiences.Īnd it arrived in the middle of a politically and emotionally charged debate about gender identity and transgender rights, as Republican elected officials in Texas, Florida and elsewhere have put forward legislation that would criminalize providing medically accepted treatment to transgender children, or ban discussions of gender identity and sexuality in some elementary school grades.īeing caught in the middle of a nationwide controversy has been unnerving for Kobabe, who has expressed concern about the effect the bans might have on young people who are questioning their identity. It’s a graphic memoir that deals with puberty and sexual identity, and includes a few drawings of nude characters and sexual scenarios - images that critics of the book were able to share on social media to stoke a backlash. Several factors made “Gender Queer” a target. In many cases, the titles that have been pulled aren’t mandatory reading but are simply available on library shelves.
The American Library Association counted challenges against 1,597 individual books last year, the highest number since the group began tracking book bans 20 years ago.