By Milan Brooks
In 2022, America hit a new high score for the most banned books in the nation – 1,477, according to PEN America.
LGBTQ+ narratives, people, or stories were contained in 674 of those. Books exploring someone’s sexuality or defying gender norms are seen as “explicit” by parent groups such as Moms for Liberty or other conservative groups and are challenged daily.
“Books with LGBTQ characters were forbidden, as were books considered too ‘adult,’ whether for sexual or violent content,” said Julie Steiner, an English teacher at W.B. Saul High School.
Steiner recalls her days teaching in Indiana, where books with LGBTQ characters were strictly advised against. As a way of challenging the norm, she did as much as she could to “challenge the envelope” by using books such as Albert Camus’ The Plague to discuss the AIDS epidemic’s effect on gay men and other marginalized communities, she said.
After Indiana, she moved to a new school in Mount Airy, where she took pride in teaching an elective called “Books I couldn’t teach in Indiana.” Her class sought out and read banned books.
“It is my hope that reading diverse texts from points of view that students may find different from their own, that students’ worlds widen, and they can see both differences and also unexpected similarities,” Steiner said.
Yona, a librarian at the Free Library of Philadelphia’s Field Teen Center, said, “I think it harms everybody when we lose access to queer stories, because those stories are happening regardless. Those people exist regardless.”
When asked what people can do to protect books, she said, “I think the best things you can do are to read them! Whether it’s buying them yourself, which signals to publishers that they will profit off of them, or going to the library and checking them out, which signals to libraries to buy more copies of that book.”
“Books are our reminders that we are not alone,” she said. “Books can illuminate the unknown and make it less scary and more approachable.”
In an attempt to combat book banning and efforts to shun queer writers, online libraries like the Queer Liberation Library have dedicated their shelves to housing LGBTQ ebooks.
San Diego University, Yale University, and other schools offer programs and clubs to include queer students, discuss queer issues, and encourage inclusivity among students.
The American Library Association has many resources to help support authors affected by banning. One way you can get involved is simply by staying informed. Hearing about challenges in your local community and contacting the library association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom is super helpful for keeping books in your library.
In the city of Philadelphia, you can call the Office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Economy, or Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s office, and tell them what you like about a book and why you want it to stay. Just brushing up on the history of banned books is helpful as well.
Banning books, especially books with queer authors, makes diversity unavailable to the public, and reinforces stigmas against marginalized communities.
Yona said having fewer books “means less information is out there, and people are more likely to react out of fear and ignorance instead of with compassion so that we can build the futures that we want to see together.”