Children’s picture book flagged at Alabama library because author’s last name is ‘Gay’

stopthatgirl7@kbin.social to News@lemmy.world – 645 points –
Children’s picture book flagged at Alabama library because author’s last name is ‘Gay’
al.com

Madison County Public Library administrators were asked to go over a list of potentially "sexually explicit" books to be moved from the children's and young adult section to the adult section. The majority of these books were about the LGBTQ community. At least one was added to the list because the author's last name is Gay.

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Yeah, Gender Queer is definitely a little more graphic than I think the average kid below 12-13 or so really shouldn't be seeing. The illustrations on oral sex are definitely a little more than I'm comfortable with for readers who aren't knowing what they're opening up, mostly because if i had pulled this bad boy out to read on the bus going home, I'd definitely have been bullied, hard.

I think that book is important for publication, definitely place it in an area designed for teens and those very close to it. But I wouldn't call it borderline pornographic any more than I would have called Catcher in the Rye borderline racist. If I had read this growing up, it might have helped me make sense of things, but I can see why it's such a hot button topic for some and an easy target for others.

FYI, Gender Queer was written for adults and was later deemed as appropriate for high schoolers (13/14 and older) by professional reviewers. It's not typically put in libraries for younger audiences.

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