Racial, LGBTQ themes in most banned books

As an avid reader and a believer in transparency, of course I’m an opponent of banning books. This week, Sept. 22-28, is National Banned Books week. This year’s theme is Freed Between the Lines.

I’ve written in the past about why I stand against book banning and the benefits of reading among young people. Today I’d like to draw attention to how we are inappropriately labeling books as well as my thoughts on several of the most challenged and banned books in the U.S.

According to the American Library Association, challenges are an attempt to remove material from the curriculum or library, thereby restricting the access of others. Due to the commitment of librarians, teachers, parents, students and other concerned citizens, most challenges are unsuccessful and most materials are retained in the school curriculum or library collection.

The Office of Intellectual Freedom reports the top three reasons cited are books being “sexually explicit,” containing “offensive language” or being “unsuited to any age group.”

In 2023 alone, the ALA tracked 1,247 efforts to censor books and other resources in libraries—an increase of 65% from the year before.

Last year, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed SF 496, a wide-ranging law with vague language requiring public schools K-12 to remove all books that have “descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act.” Religious texts like the Bible are excluded.

Thousands of books have been pulled from public school shelves in the past year, including literary classics.

Many books are ones I read personally in high school. “Brave New World,” by Aldous Huxley; “The Fault in our Stars,” by John Green; “Twilight,” by Stephanie Meyer and “Wicked,” by Gregory Maguire to name a few.

When you look at the top 10 most banned books in the U.S., three are about racial issues, five are LGBTQ stories and one is about both. Only one book on the top 10 list doesn’t have a Black or LGBTQ theme.

Here’s the issue with that — there are plenty of books that don’t belong in young adult sections or in school libraries. I work part time at The Latest Edition and we make sure our young adult section is appropriate for teenagers. The owner, Bess, also ensures certain books are only purchased with parental permission.

But it’s not these books. Teenagers aren’t coming in to buy “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe or “Flamer” by Mike Curato — numbers one and five on the most-banned books list.

The most-read books that are not age appropriate for teenagers are books like “Icebreaker” by Hannah Grace; “A Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sarah J. Maas; “Fourth Wing” by Rebecca Yarros and anything by Colleen Hoover.

These books don’t have any political themes or motivations. They aren’t about social justice, sexual identity or poverty. They also aren’t on banned books lists. Why is that?

I’ve found “A Court of Thorns and Roses” in young adult sections in various libraries and book stores. Anyone who has read the series knows it is not appropriate for readers under 18.

That’s the thing — there are a lot of books not appropriate for children to be reading. The issue with challenging books and banning books is that people are using “explicit language” and “sexually explicit” as cop outs for the real reason they want the book challenged — it contains topics they don’t want their children reading about.

I made it a point this year to read more banned books. I read “Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe, my first graphic novel. I agree, the book probably shouldn’t be readily available in a public school library due to some of the sexually graphic content.

However, I do think counselors should have access to the book. I think young adults who are questioning their sexual and/or gender identity would find solace in this book. As a reminder, LGBTQ youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide than their peers. If reading a book that’s “sexually explicit” for three pages helps them want to stay alive, isn’t that what’s best for them?

If you’re thinking it’s really not necessary, a 2023 survey conducted by the Trevor Project found 41% of LGBTQ youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the last year, including roughly half of transgender and nonbinary youth. At least one attempts suicide every 45 seconds. How long have you been reading this? How many are gone in this short amount of time?

During my struggle with infertility, I read the book “Infreakinfertility” by Melanie Dale. I’ve since read it numerous times, highlighting passages that stuck out. It helped me organize complex, jumbled thoughts and make sense out of my reality. Books are an incredibly important resource for people of all ages.

It’s also important for our children to have a working knowledge of the tough parts of our history. In America, people were hanged for the color of their skin. America killed more than 100,000 innocent civilians when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Women have been abused and under-privileged for decades. We can’t hide these things because we want kids to grow up thinking everything is great. Horrible things have happened in the world and are still happening to this day. Censoring books because the topics are difficult will only perpetuate the problem.