There’s a certain type of book they tend to ban…

A rainbow colored bookshelf cover up by yellow tape that repeats the word banned over and over again (like caution tape)

According to The American Library Association more than half of 2023’s most challenged books have LGBT themes. And while we are living in unprecedented times of book bannings, the fear and demonization of LGBT books is nothing new. The reality is that if more young people who are LGBT+ know about their identities exist and that they’re not alone in their experiences, they come out and find queer community sooner. If they can see stories of people like them living happy health lives, they can have hope for their futures outside of the closet.

Transphobes and homophobes do not like this. They would prefer young people not be able to learn about queer identities and experiences. They want young people to believe that there’s something wrong with their queerness, to spend their entire lives feeling shame about who they are, and to suppress their true selves.

All we can do is keep telling, and recommending these stories loudly. So this banned book week we wanted to highlight some important LGBTQ+ books that Christian Nationalists don’t want you, or anybody else, to read.

The cover of And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson and illustrated by Henry Cole

This picture book based on the true story about Penguins in the Central Park Zoo, was the most challenged book three years in a row, and was in the list of top ten most challenged books for an additional six years. Two penguins Roy and Silo, who were both male, paired off together. They tried to care for stones, the way penguins care for eggs. The zoo keepers decided to give them an egg to tend to, the egg hatched, and was named Tango. The story is expertly simple, and undeniably charming, and includes nothing on the page that would garner anything higher than a “G” rating. The illustrations are a delight, and really bring this sweet little story to life. I highly recommend you check this book out, read it to young people in your life, and talk about how gayness exists all throughout nature.

The cover of Gender Queer: A Memoir, by Maia Kobabe

This graphic novel memoir has been the most challenged book for the past three years. The author/illustrator wrote it about their life long relationship to their gender. Some of the stories are about their delight and being unclockable as either gender on the playground, or confusion about why they couldn’t be topless at the beach like their dad. As we see Maia grow the things they explore naturally become more mature, from dysphoric dreams about menstruation, to sexual fantasies, to self pleasure and sexual exploration. This book was written for adult audience, but I, and many youth librarians see the value in younger audiences reading it. Don’t people under the age of 18 think about sex, experience dysphoria, and wonder about how adults do adult things together? I think it’s a really beautiful graphic novel, with a very engaging illustration style, that tells a story we haven’t heard very often.

The cover of All Boys Aren't Blue, by George M. Johnson

This memoir tells the story of a young Black gay man. Johnson so clearly wrote this book out of a desire to help other queer people know more than he did as they navigate their burgeoning desires. He writes honestly about his young life, including early sexual encounters. It’s described clearly, though not particularly graphically. I thought it was fumbling and unsure and sweet. It felt real and honest. This is exactly the kind of book I want young people to read. Whether it’s to help them explore their own queer desires, or just be a better community member to the queer people in their lives.

Whether it’s one of these three, or another incredible piece of literature, we hope you will got out there and fight the power by reading a banned book!