Over the last few years, you may have heard that libraries and schools across the U.S. are removing “pornography” from shelves, especially books that children or teens might access. That framing sounds reasonable at first. Most people agree that libraries shouldn’t hand explicit adult material to kids.
But when you look more closely at which books are actually being targeted, a completely different picture emerges.
Across the country, books with LGBTQ+ characters, including memoirs, coming-of-age novels, and even picture books, are being labeled as pornographic, obscene, or harmful to minors. In many cases, these books contain no explicit sex at all. What they do contain is queerness: gay crushes, trans identity, same-gender parents, or honest discussions of growing up.
This is why you’re now seeing libraries create 18+ sections, restrict checkout by age, or quietly move books out of youth and teen areas. These measures are often attempts to protect libraries and librarians from complaints, lawsuits, and even criminal charges and death threats – they are not reflections of the books’ actual content.
To an extent, I understand why libraries are making this decision. If the choice is not have the book at all, or have it available but keep it in a separate section, I would do the same. The point of a library is to have these sorts of stories accessible, so having to guard it is, in my opinion, better than giving in to demands for outright bans.
But this is still infuriating.
Calling a book “pornographic” is powerful. It immediately invokes a moral binary and shuts down discussion. It reframes a story about queer identity or queer adolescence as something dangerous, immoral and inherently sexual. And legally, it gives cover to and paves the way for outright removal – many laws allow or even require institutions to restrict material labeled “obscene,” even when those definitions are vague.
The problem is that queer content is being treated as inherently sexual, while comparable straight content often passes without comment. A heterosexual kiss in a YA novel is seen as age-appropriate romance. A same-gender kiss becomes sexualized and inappropriate. That very intentional double standard is the engine driving many of these bans.
If this were really about explicit material, we’d expect challenges to focus on graphic sexual content across the board. Instead, the books most frequently targeted are about figuring out who you are, navigating adolescence, family and community, and realizing you’re different in a world that doesn’t always welcome that difference.
For queer kids – especially those without supportive families – libraries are often the only place they encounter stories that reflect their lives. Restricting these books doesn’t make those kids safer. It makes them lonelier.
And that’s the point. The people driving these book bans want queer people to feel isolated, to be invisible, to conform to hetero-patriarchal standards or hide ourselves away. This is all a tie to a drive for moral purity. The issue is that conservative right-wing Christians should not be allowed to decide what is and is not moral – that defeats the purpose of both free speech and freedom of religion. (Which they are also dismantling.)
Litigating personal religious beliefs and turning religion into law is wrong, and goes against the founding principles of the U.S. But we are still suffering from the death throes of Puritanism, which has haunted us since this country’s inception. And the conservative strain of our society very much wants a world in which men are in charge, women are subjugated, and queer people, people of color, and anyone else that the regime doesn’t like are silent at best and erased at worst.
One of the ways to counter anti-queerness is to keep reading these books. Keep discussing them. Here is a very non-exhaustive list of some of the titles that have been impacted by this book ban. Check them out from your local library. Buy them from an independent bookstore.
Gender Queer: A Memoir
A graphic memoir about growing up nonbinary and learning the language to describe one’s identity.
All Boys Aren’t Blue
A personal essay collection about Black queer adolescence, family, and self-acceptance.
Flamer
A semi-autobiographical YA graphic novel about a gay teen at summer camp wrestling with faith, bullying, and shame.
This Book Is Gay
An informational guide for teens about sexuality, gender identity, and relationships.
And Tango Makes Three
A true story picture book for children about two male penguins raising a chick together at a zoo.
When Aidan Became a Brother
A children’s book about a transgender boy preparing to welcome a new sibling.
The Prince and the Dressmaker
A fairy-tale-style graphic novel about gender expression, friendship, and love.
Cinderella Is Dead
A feminist YA fantasy that reimagines Cinderella with a queer protagonist in a dystopian world.
Beyond Magenta
Interviews with transgender and gender-nonconforming teens about their lives and families.
Annie on My Mind
A classic YA novel about two girls falling in love and facing social backlash.
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
An epistolary novel about a teenage narrator navigating friendship, love, trauma, and self-discovery, including queer characters and candid explorations of sex and mental health; regularly appears on challenged lists.
Looking for Alaska
A reflective novel about loss and first love that includes LGBTQ+ themes among a larger cast of characters.
Let the Right One In
A queer coming of age horror novel in which a lonely young boy befriends a vampire.
Remember folks – writing is fighting, and reading is radical. Keep writing, and keep supporting queer writers.
Mental Wanderings: Art, Nature, Life 