Rick Bowmer/AP file photo

N AT I O N

Who’s getting hurt most by

soaring LGBTQ book bans?
Librarians say kids.

Samantha Laine Perfas | Harvard Staff Writer

June 28, 2023 ■ 6 min read

E h ll i b i
Experts note challenges across nation being
pushed by vocal minority, reflect backlash to
recent political, social advances

When Schuyler Bailar was a child, he didn’t see many books that reflected his identity.
Not his mixed-race identity, and especially not his developing gender identity. It’s one
of the reasons the first openly transgender NCAA Division I swimmer decided to write
“Obie is Man Enough,” a 2021 novel about a transgender middle school swimmer.

“I wanted to write about kids like me because kids like me exist,” said Bailar, a 2019
graduate of the College. “Writing this story would be a way to help remind other kids
like me that they’re not alone.”

But getting books about LGBTQ issues into the hands of young readers is becoming
more difficult with the recent rise of book bans across the nation. PEN America
recorded more school bans during the fall 2022 semester than in the prior two. The
American Library Association documented 1,269 attempts to ban or restrict books
in libraries last year. This is the highest number since the group began tracking the
issue two decades ago and nearly doubles the previous record set in 2021. Nearly
half — 45.5 percent — of 2,571 unique titles challenged were written by or about
LGBTQ people.

“My book isn’t allowed in a lot of states right now that ban talking about gender
identity,” Bailar said. One teacher in Charles City, Iowa, resigned after being placed
on administrative leave for teaching a short story by Bailar about his first time
swimming for Harvard on the men’s team.
 “I wanted to write about kids like me because kids like me exist,” says Schuyler Bailar with his book, “Obie is
Man Enough.” Courtesy of Schuyler Bailar

“These book bans absolutely affect authors, but I think they affect the children more,”
he said. “Our stories are not getting out to the kids who need to be reading them.”

Michael Bronski, Professor of the Practice in Media and Activism in Studies of

Women, Gender, and Sexuality, said the challenges reflect political and social
tensions due to the rapid change in acceptance of LGBTQ people.

“We’ve had enormous progress [for LGBTQ rights],” Bronski said. “These book bans
— along with the bans on drag shows, along with the attacks on abortion, along with
the attacks on trans youth — are really a last-ditch effort, almost magical thinking
[from conservatives], to stop this push.”

The number of targeted titles may be increasing, but it appears to be less a matter of
growing disapproval of parents and others and more about a shift in tactics by
groups. Historically, requests for censorship or restriction focused on single books. In
2022, the majority involved multiple titles, with 40 percent of cases calling for bans
of 100 books or more.

Lesliediana Jones, associate director for public services at Harvard Law School
Library, refers to this new practice as “copycat challenging,” where one group
compiles a list of books then shares that list — sometimes through social media —
with others to mount challenges at their local schools and libraries. This is a primary
driver in the rapid increase in calls for censorship.

“You didn’t have the mechanisms and the media methods you have now,” Jones said.
“[Book challenging has] escalated because these groups have become a lot more
well-funded and a lot more organized.”
The primary reason cited in many LGBTQ book challenges involves sexual content;
however, many are also explicit in their intent to prevent children from reading about
LGBTQ people and their lives, according to an investigation by The Washington
Post. The Post also found that while book challenges have become many, the
challengers themselves are few, with only 11 people responsible for 60 percent of
filings nationwide.

“I think it is a small and very loud minority that is weaponizing — I sort of hate the
word weaponizing — but they are weaponizing and passing these laws” on book
restrictions, Bronski said, referring to legislation in states like Florida, Utah, and
Missouri. He doubts any of the legislation will withstand scrutiny by the courts, but
that’s not to say that “grave damage” isn’t being done.

“The main intention of all of these laws is to actually — an impossible task ­— eradicate
the visible presence of queer people,” Bronski said. “If we think of the world as the
legal sphere and the social sphere, the social sphere has actually evolved pretty
quickly, and some people … are uncomfortable with that, and they’re using legal
tactics to stop that.”

But Bronski said these efforts can foster uncertainty and doubt in society and affect
how the LGBTQ community is perceived. In a recent Gallup poll, acceptance for
LGBTQ people dropped 7 percent across both Democrats and Republicans, with only
41 percent of Republicans supporting LGBTQ people, down from 56 percent a year
ago.

Jones, who is also the chair of the Intellectual Freedom Committee for the ALA, said
that as a librarian, their job is to provide content that can reflect the entire community.
Parents are within their right to help decide what their child can or cannot read, but
removing a book from a library makes that decision for all patrons. In recent years,
librarians who have refused to remove certain books from their shelves have come
under attack by parents who say they don’t want their children exposed to content
they view as sexually inappropriate. Jones said that’s simply not the reality.

“You’re not putting ‘Gender Queer’ next to ‘Pat the Bunny,’” Jones said, referring to
the top banned book in 2022. “I trust that the librarians at whatever library have
looked at the books and put them in the appropriate section.”

Alex Hodges, director of the Gutman Library at Harvard Graduate School of

Education, said it’s important for parents who have concerns about what their
children are reading to communicate with their librarians, but it must be in a way that
is respectful and appropriate. Professional librarians use criteria to vet books, and
parents are free to challenge the process. However it should be part of a dialogue,
one that allows both parties to voice specific, concrete concerns.

Illinois recently became the first state to ban book bans; Bronski and Jones agree
that it’s a step in the right direction, but not enough.

“I think that banning book bans is great. I’m all for it, but it doesn’t address the real
problem,” Bronski said. “You have to change the hearts and minds of Americans.”

For Bailar, whose latest book “He/She/They: How We Talk about Gender and Why It
Matters” will be available this fall, hopes society will move to a wider acceptance of
LGBTQ experiences. He says when he makes visits to education settings some
people he meets are “stunned” to discover they can connect with him, that he’s a real
person deserving of “universal human empathy.” He wants this same acceptance
extended to trans youth.

“We know when kids aren’t allowed to be who they are until they’re adults — or if they
have to hide their identity — it’s harmful to them,” he said. “When we affirm children’s
identities, we can actually save their lives.”

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