Republicans are eager to ban books by any means necessary. Or at least, books that are written by or about LGBTQ+ people and people of color. Republicans have been trying to stir hysteria and chaos among their voter base in order to get people worked up enough to go to the polls and elect conservatives into office—even though elected Republicans have failed to lead amid the pandemic and in general. But Republicans are hopeful they will get their constituents confused and angry, and they’re attacking marginalized groups from all sides in hopes of that line of attack working out.
As Daily Kos continues to cover, Republican extremists have introduced a growing number of anti-queer (and specifically, anti-trans) bills at the state and federal levels. These bills attack an already vulnerable population by going after access to safe, age-appropriate and gender-affirming health care, bathrooms, and sports, among other things. Books bans and book challenges have also been increasingly popular, thanks in part to conservative groups like Moms for Liberty riling up confused parents and teachers at school board meetings.
Sadly, some young readers have already lost access to books because of these outrageous efforts. For example, according to PEN America, a nonprofit organized around free speech, close to 300 books across 11 school districts have already been banned in Missouri, thanks to an anti-book (and anti-queer) law passed in August, as covered by the Springfield News-Leader. Distributing books that contain “explicit sexual material” to students in public or private schools is now a crime punishable by a $2,000 fine or up to one year in jail. And guess whose stories are considered sexually “explicit” just by existing?
If you thought: “Queer people!” You’d be exactly right. And, looking at some of these titles, it’s really targeted at anyone and anything.
RELATED: Republicans tried to get all LGBTQ children's books pulled from all 12 libraries in one county
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Books that have been pulled from school library shelves include books about the Holocaust (including Maus), a number of titles by Margaret Atwood, graphic novel adaptations of Shakespeare, and comic books like X-Men, The Walking Dead, and Batman. Even the graphic novel adaptation of Lois Lowry’s The Giver got the cut. Why? Because there is a moment in the book where the protagonist helps an elder take a bath. Nothing sexual or explicit about it. And yet, it’s gone.
If you’re wondering why graphic novels seem to be getting extra scrutiny in Missouri, an amendment to S.B. 775 illustrates why.
“A person commits the offense of providing explicit sexual material to a student if such person is affiliated with a public or private elementary or secondary school in an official capacity and, knowing of its content and character, such person provides, assigns, supplies, distributes, loans, or coerces acceptance of or the approval of the providing of explicit sexual material to a student or possesses with the purpose of providing, assigning, supplying, distributing, loaning, or coercing acceptance of or the approval of the providing of explicit sexual material to a student.”
Basically: The law has educators worried about any images that could be construed as sexual. And we know that for queer people and other marginalized folks, our autonomy, sexual health, and development are under scrutiny from the start. Notably, the law technically has exceptions for books used in sexual education health classes, as well as for books that contain important art history or anthropology. But at least 76 titles pulled so far are about art history.
Why? Because, again, the law is basically an excuse for conservatives to pull any images, history, or references by and about LGBTQ+ people and our sexual health and autonomy from the shelves. A number of books—including graphic novels and young adult novels—by and about queer people have already disappeared. Queer people telling our own experiences in an age-appropriate way is so scary to Republicans, they want our stories to disappear, and to leave young people with fewer safe resources.
And when something is aimed at hurting LGBTQ+ people (or any other marginalized groups) don’t doubt that it will soon be applied so liberally, it could hurt or exclude almost anyone and everyone.
“I was like, ‘what could be in here that is sexual?’” Jonathan Friedan, who directs the free speech programs at PEN America, said during a press conference on Wednesday, Nov. 16 in reference to a graphic novel about the Gettysburg Address. Friedman added they hadn’t yet figured that one out.
Friedman went on to stress that while eyes are on Missouri right now, this state is part of a bigger trend. Daily Kos has covered, for example, efforts to ban books in Tennessee, Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida, Oklahoma, and others. It’s estimated more than 4 million students have already lost out on access to books, thanks to Republican bans. Librarians are facing serious harassment and headaches, and some are even leaving the profession over it.
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