The progressive American Library Association (ALA) on Monday claimed that the parental campaigns to remove sexually obscene books from children’s libraries unfairly target LGBT and minority communities.
Kicking off National Library Week, the organization revealed its top ten most “challenged” titles, including infamously radical books such as Gender Queer, All Boys Aren’t Blue, and This Book is Gay. In March, the ALA claimed that public libraries experienced a 92 percent increase in the number of titles that were objected to on the basis of inappropriate content compared to the previous year.
“In looking at the titles of the most challenged books from last year, it’s obvious that the pressure groups are targeting books about LGBTQIA+ people and people of color,” ALA President Emily Drabinski said in a statement. “At ALA, we are fighting for the freedom to choose what you want to read. Shining a light on the harmful workings of these pressure groups is one of the actions we must take to protect our right to read.”
Gender Queer, which includes graphic descriptions of sexual interactions between characters and an illustration of oral sex, has been accused of being pornographic.
An excerpt reads:
For years my standard method of masturbation was stuffing a sock into the front of my pants and manipulating the bulge. This would evolve into hip-thrusting while thinking of my latest gay ship. . . . Memorably, I got off once while driving just by rubbing the front of my jeans and imagining getting a blow job.
While the book has been found in many children’s libraries, its author has conceded in the past that the material is too mature for some audiences.
“Gender Queer is a comic, and in full color, but that doesn’t mean it’s for children,” author Maia Kobabe told the Washington Post in an interview. “I originally wrote it for my parents, and then for older teens who were already asking these questions about themselves. I don’t recommend this book for kids!”
GOP Senator John Kennedy went viral on social media in September after he read particularly provocative parts of the book aloud during a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“I got a new strap-on harness today,” Kennedy read. “I can’t wait to put it on you. It will fit my favorite dildo perfectly.”
In July 2021, the ALA made its embrace of progressivism official, updating its code of conduct to include a commitment to “recognize and dismantle systemic and individual biases; to confront inequity and oppression; to enhance diversity and inclusion; and to advance racial and social justice.”
Shortly after becoming president of the ALA, Drabinksi boasted about her leftist background.
“I just cannot believe that a Marxist lesbian who believes that collective power is possible to build and can be wielded for a better world is the president-elect of @ALALibrary,” she wrote in a now-deleted tweet following her election in April 2022. “I am so excited for what we will do together. Solidarity!”
Drabinski’s remarks led Republican lawmakers in several states, including Illinois, South Carolina, and Arizona, to demand their respective libraries withdraw support for the ALA. The leader later said she was shocked that her public identification as a “Marxist” prompted such intense political outcry.
“I was excited to highlight and celebrate two aspects of my identity that are really important to me and are often under a lot of scrutiny,” Drabinksi told NBC News in an August interview.
A couple of weeks later, a Texas state commission announced it would be disassociating with the ALA after a GOP Texas state representative, Brian Harrison, pressured the state to end their collaboration. Before Texas, Montana was the first to have its library commission cut ties with the ALA.
The ALA spearheaded a group called Unite Against Book Bans, which has earned the praise of former President Obama. At one point, the group hosted a “Rally for the Right to Read” event headlined by critical race theory espouser Ibram X. Kendi. The author has infamously argued that the “only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.”